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The alleged military commander of the ETA, a Basque militant group, is due to make an appearance before a magistrate in France on Monday to face charges of terrorism, according to prosecutors.

Portrayed by Spain’s government as the military chief and supreme leader of the ETA, Mikel Karrera Sarobe was taken into custody by French police last Thursday in a raid in Bayonne, southwest France.

Sarobe, 37-years-old, was arrested together with a pair of suspected accomplices. One of the alleged accomplices, Arkaitz Aguirregabiria del Barrio, was believed to be Sarobe’s right-hand man. The other was a female militant.

Sarobe would be the fifth military chief of the ETA to be arrested in a span of two years, as the Spanish and French governments have beefed up joint operations to arrest the Basque separatist group. Prosecutors in Paris mentioned that a formal inquiry had been started targeting the three suspects as well as a fourth individual, who was arrested in Urugne, also in southwest France.

Samples of Sarobe’s DNA matched those gathered from the crime scene of the December 2007 murder of two Spanish police personnel in Capbreton, according to prosecutors.

The ETA chief could have charges filed against him in connection to the murder, the prosecutors added.

For the last 40 years, ETA has been fighting an armed campaign for the independence of Basque, carved out from southwest France and northern Spain.

The ETA is listed as a terrorist group by the EU, and has been considered accountable for the killings of 829 people in the duration of its on-again-off-again campaign of bomb and gun attacks against Spanish targets.

Three suspected Basque separatists have been put on trial over their alleged involvement in the 2006 airport bombing in Madrid which left two people dead.

Mikel San Sebastian, Igor Portu, and Mattin Sarasola are charged with placing an explosive device in a van that blew up in a car park on 30 December 2006.

The responsibility to the crime was later claimed by ETA, a Basque separatist organisation, which added that the deaths were unintentional.

The bombing also derailed peace negotiations between the group and the Spanish government. The three declined to enter a plea or speak before the court.

Their charges include terrorist damage, two murders, and 41 attempted murders. “I don’t recognise this fascist court and I am not going to take part in it”, said Mr Sarasola before the court in Basque.

Mr Sarasola and Mr Portu were apprehended in January of 2008, while Mr San Sebastian was captured in France some weeks later.

The blast killed two Ecuadorian immigrants who had been sleeping inside their cars and injured 41 people at the Barajas airport multi-storey car park, which sustained massive damage.

The two fatalities were the first blamed on ETA in over three years, prompting the Spanish government to formally halt tentative negotiations with the organisation, which it initiated months previously.

The armed group had announced a permanent ceasefire in March of 2006, but officially broke it off in June 2007.

The group’s goal is to create an independent state in south-west France and northern Spain. ETA has been held responsible for the death of over 800 people throughout its campaign, which has been going on for over thirty years.

Officials have confirmed that the leader of Basque separatist group ETA has been arrested in France.

Ibon Gogeascoechea was detained along with two other terror suspects in the French village of Cahan.

The arrests came as a result of a joint operation between French and Spanish authorities and marked the culmination of an extended intelligence led operation, which involved surveillance on an address in the village.

Spanish interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told a news conference: “We understand one of those detained is the maximum leader of ETA at this moment.”

Officials from the French ministry of justice confirmed the arrests saying they believed the trio had spent a week at the address and had been planning to leave yesterday (SUNDAY)

54-year-old Gogeascoechea is currently subject to an arrest warrant for alleged involvement in a foiled plot which saw 12 bombs planted near the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao believed to be intended to explode during the opening ceremony where the Spanish king was to be in attendance.

Gogeascoechea’s brother killed a policeman at the scene of the crime.

Commenting on the arrests, the most recent of a spate of ETA captures which have also netted 2,000 kilos of explosives as well as other arm, Mr Rubalcaba said: “These last two months have been the worst two months in ETA’s history.”

Explosives, a stolen vehicle, documents and other equipment were also seized in the weekend’s raid.