Suspected ETA chief arrested in northwestern France

The suspected leader of the Basque armed group ETA was arrested by police in northwestern France on Sunday, Spain''s government said.

Ibon Gogeascoechea and two other suspected ETA members were taken into custody by French police in the village of Cahan, France, following a long surveillance operation on a cottage that had been rented using false identity papers, Spain''s Interior Ministry said.

Gogeascoechea, 54, is wanted for allegedly helping to place 12 explosive devices around the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, northern Spain, in 1997 on the eve of the gallery''s inauguration by the king of Spain. The plot was discovered before the bombs exploded, but Gogeascoechea''s brother, Eneko, shot and killed a Basque regional policeman there.

Ibon Gogeascoechea would be the fifth suspected ETA leader who has been arrested in Spain or France since November 2008.

This year, about 30 suspected ETA members have been arrested. In February, a bomb making base in Portugal was raided by police.

During Sunday''s raid, French police found bomb making equipment, a stolen car that had been falsely registered in January in France, documents and computer equipment, Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said at a news conference Sunday.

The other two ETA members were identified by the Interior Ministry as Beñat Aguiagalde, 26, and Gregorio Jimenez, 55. All three men are wanted by Spain''s National Court on suspicion of involvement in terror attacks.

Aguiagalde is wanted in connection with the murders of former Basque regional politician Isaias Carrasco in March 2008 and businessman Ignacio Uria Mendizabal in December 2008.

Jimenez is wanted for his links with a 2001 foiled rocket attack on former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, the ministry said.