French police have arrested the suspected political leader of the Basque guerrilla group ETA, detained 20 other people and seized weapons in raids across France and Spain.
Spanish authorities say Mikel Albisu Iriarte, alias "Mikel Antza", has been ETA's political chief since 1993. He was arrested with another suspected ETA veteran, Soledad Iparraguirre, alias "Anboto", at Salies de Bearn in southwestern France, according to French police.
Iparraguirre, accused of involvement in at least 14 murders, is the highest-ranking woman in ETA, the Spanish Interior Ministry said.
The 20 people suspected of links to ETA were detained in France, where dozens of anti-terrorist and local police took part in a series of raids in a search for ETA bases.
Spanish police also arrested a truck driver in the central city of Burgos who was suspected of involvement in attacks last week in which bombs were attached to electricity pylons in Spain.
ETA, classed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 to press its demand for a Basque state carved out of northern Spain and southwestern France.
ETA has not carried out a fatal attack for more than a year, but it resumed planting small bombs in August, first targeting tourist resorts and then blowing up electricity pylons on lines connecting France and Spain.
The arrests were hailed in Spain as an important blow to ETA, already reported to be severely weakened following hundreds of arrests by French and Spanish police in recent years.