2 Leaders of Basque Separatist Group Held

French police delivered a powerful blow to the Basque separatist group ETA, arresting its military and logistics chiefs. Spanish authorities said the arrests marked “one of the most important days” in the decades-long fight against the group.

ETA is blamed for more than 800 killings since the late 1960s in its campaign to carve out a homeland from territory straddling northern Spain and southwestern France. Gorka Palacios Alday, the military boss, and Juan Luis Rubenach, in charge of planning, were arrested in the village of Lons, near Pau in southwestern France, officials said.