Top ETA leader arrested in France

French police say they have nabbed two senior members of the outlawed Basque separatist group, ETA, including a senior 'joint political leader,' amid stepped up operations in France and Spain.

One of the couples detained on Monday in the town of Carnac, on the northwestern coast, is Aitor Elizaran Aguilar, whom police officials regard as the co-leader of the political arm of the group, a Spanish anti-terrorism source told AFP.

He was arrested along with another suspected senior member, Oihana San Vicente, in a car. Both men were armed at the time of their arrest.

Spain and France have joint forces and made several high-profile arrests since last year, when the group's number one, Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, known as Thierry, was arrested in May.

Both European courtiers are seeking to put an end to the 41-year campaign by the Basque rebels, who have been blamed for terrorist attacks and more than 820 deaths.

Aguilar is thought to have been "elevated" to ETA political leadership following Pena's arrest, anti-terror sources told Spanish news agency Efe.

Some 10 senior members of the ETA's banned political wing, Batasuna, were arrested in Spain last week.

In 2008 police in France arrested ETA's suspected military leader, Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, and two of his suspected successors were detained in France within the space of a few weeks.

Recent peace talks with the group that is fighting for a separate Basque state comprising four northern Spanish provinces and three provinces in south-west France have failed.