At least twelve leaders of the French Batasuna party, that was banned in Spain more than five years ago over its links to ETA, have been arrested in a series of dawn raids across the French Basque region.

Among the detained are party spokesman, Xabi Larralde (photo), foreign affairs spokesman, Giuliano Cavaterra and national council members, Jean Claude Aguerre and Aurore Martín whose bank accounts have already been frozen as part of an inquiry into the funding of the Basque communist party initiated last May by Spanish High Court anti-terror judge, Baltasar Garzón.

Also arrested today was Jean François Lefort, alias 'Lof', a former spokesman for the Askatasuna association that defends the rights of jailed ETA activists.

These arrests - which are believed to be part of an investigation into numerous recent incidents of 'kale borroka' street violence throughout the Spanish Basque lands - follow the detention yesterday in the Loire region of Unai Fano, a suspected ETA terrorist who advised Batasuna during the last round of peace negotiations.

Fano was arrested at the same time as María Lizarraga Merino, a former member of the radical Segi separatist youth movement.

Basque terror suspects seized in France
By: thinkSPAIN
Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Yesterday, Spanish Interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba confirmed that the cars used in three ETA bomb attacks last weekend had been stolen in France.

Today, French police have detained two Basque terror suspects and recovered two stolen cars somewhere in the Loire region.

The couple were found to be using fake identities and in possession of several firearms.

It is thought that one of the pair is María Lizarraga Merino from Navarra, a former member of the Segi separatist youth organisation though the identity of her male companion has not been confirmed.

It seems that the two alleged terrorists, who have been taken to regional police headquarters in Clermont-Ferrand, were arrested at a remote rural campsite.