Spain and France have agreed to set up joint police units to investigate Islamic militant groups and Basque guerrillas ETA, Spain announced today.
One joint team, to be set up in the coming weeks, will probe whether an al-Qaeda "international terrorism financing network" exists in Spain, with links to France and Morocco, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
A second team, which will start work immediately, aims to track down and arrest ETA members responsible for bombings at Spanish seaside resorts this year and last, it said.
For the first time, the new agreement allows Spanish police to carry out searches or phone taps in France, under the direction of a French judicial police official, the Justice Ministry said.
The units mark a stepping up of Spain's efforts to combat Islamic militants after a group thought to be linked to al Qaeda bombed four commuter trains in March, killing 191 people in the worst attack in modern Spanish history.
The bombings led to questions about whether Spain had taken the threat of an al-Qaeda attack seriously enough.
Socialist leader Mr Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, elected three days after the March attacks, ordered 1,300 Spanish troops home from Iraq a day after he took office.
The Franco-Spanish agreement, signed today, is a first in Europe and marks a "qualitative leap in the fight against international terrorism," the Justice Ministry said.
The new anti-ETA unit, which can operate on both French and Spanish soil, will have a French and a Spanish chief.
Spain hopes other EU countries will follow suit and create joint units against cross-border terrorism and organised crime.