Police in Spain and France arrested 34 people early today in a swoop Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said was one of the most important operations against the Basque armed group ETA.
Twenty-nine were detained mostly in Spain's northern Basque and Navarre regions on suspicion of belonging to ETA and recruiting for the organisation, which is listed as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
French police sources said four men and one woman connected to the banned radical Basque youth group Segi were arrested in Bayonne in the south of the country.
Mr Aznar said on state radio it was "one of the most important and extensive operations that has been carried out in the fight against terror".
Interior Minister Angel Acebes told a news conference that ETA's organisational capacity was reduced thanks to recent police operations that have put some of the group's key members behind bars.