2 ETA suspects arrested in France

Two suspected members of the Basque pro-independence group ETA were arrested on Monday in southwestern France by the French police in collaboration with Spanish police, local media reported on Monday. The two detainees, Jokin Aranalde and Benat Atorrasagasti, have been wanted since 2002. Aranalde was arrested in Hellette on Saturday at a meeting organized by the ETA in France. He had previously been arrested in 2002 in an operation led by the Spanish Civil Guard against the Donosti cell. He was released after posting bail of 12,000 euros (15,713 U.S. dollars) and fled to France in 2004. The second detainee, Atorrasagasti, was arrested in the town of Urrugne. He had been released on probation in February by a court in Paris after being arrested in Edinburgh last year. The ETA has killed 829 people in 40 years of struggle for the Basque region's independence. It renounced violence in October 2011 but the Spanish government continues to push them to disarm.