France arrests three major ETA suspects

French police have arrested three men suspected of being members of Eta, the Basque separatist group, and seized bomb-making materials. Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, Spain's interior minister, said the trio were all "top members of the military apparatus" of Eta, responsible for "supplying arms, ammunition and explosives" to fighters.

Police found weapons, fake identity papers and computers in a dawn raid on an flat in the Alpine resort of Corbier-Villarembert on Wednesday. Rubalcaba said police also uncovered about 20 explosive devices and 42 detonators, and an additional stash of similar material at a hideout in Ferrieres, about 40km from the Spanish border.

He named one of the detained as Alberto Machain Beraza, who has been on a wanted list since a bomb attack last month on the Spanish island of Mallorca in which two police officers died. The other two were named as Andoni Sarasola and Aitzol Etxaburu. The Spanish authorities believe Etxaburu has ties with Mikel de Garikoitz Aspiazu, a suspected Eta chief arrested in November in France.