French police bundle away two suspects hidden under blankets, one of whom is believed to be Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, in Cauterets on Monday

José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spanish prime minister, hailed the arrest in France on Monday of the suspected military chief of the Basque separatist group Eta, as an important blow against the organisation, which has killed more than 800 people in Spain in the past 40 years.