French and Spanish police struck another blow against Eta, the violent Basque separatist group, by arresting the group’s alleged top bomb expert and three other suspected guerrillas during a raid in Cahors, in southern France, at the weekend.

Police seized 350kg of explosives, hundreds of firearms, grenade launchers and two stolen cars at a safe house were the separatists were hiding. Police said Luis Ignacio Iruretagoiena, the arrested explosives expert, was suspected of having taken part in a devastating car bomb attack that killed two men at Madrid’s international airport last December.