Spain’s most wanted terror suspect, who is said to be the military head of Eta, was arrested yesterday, dealing a massive blow to the Basque separatist organisation.

Miguel de Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, known as Txeroki – Cherokee – was captured after police discovered that the numberplate on the van he was living in did not correspond to any vehicle.

He was arrested in a spa town and ski resort in the French Pyrenean region along with another Eta suspect and a woman. The town of Cauterets is part of an area straddling France and Spain that Eta claims as the Basque homeland.

Txeroki’s capture comes only six months after the presumed leader of Eta, Javier López Peña, was also seized in France, effectively “decapitating” the organisation.

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The leaders of both countries hailed yesterday’s police operation as a significant blow to the separatist group. “Today Eta is weaker and Spanish democracy is stronger,” José Luis RodrÍguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, said. “It has not lost its ability to attack all citizens. It has not lost its ability to cause pain. But with this arrest it has suffered a severe blow.”

Txeroki, 36, has allegedly headed the military wing of the outlawed Basque group for five years, reputedly masterminding a series of deadly attacks including the murder of a judge, a plot to kill King Juan Carlos and a bomb attack on the Socialist politician Eduardo Madina.

He is believed to have shot dead two undercover police officers last year and is said to have organised the bomb attack on Barajas airport in Madrid in December 2006, which killed two Ecuadoreans, in an effort to end a controversial truce with the Spanish Government.

“This arrest shows once again the strong commitment of the French police and gendarmerie and the excellent cooperation between France and Spain in the fight against Basque terrorism,” President Sarkozy of France said. He also announced an extraordinary summit on cross-border terrorism with Mr Zapatero.

Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, the Spanish Interior Minister, said that armed police followed the van in which Txeroki was living and arrested him as he slept. In a raid on a nearby house police seized two pistols, computers, €3,000 (£2,600) in cash and a wig belonging to the alleged terrorist.

The arrest of two alleged Eta leaders in six months is likely to leave a power vacuum in the organisation, filled either by hardliners or by moderates who might opt for talks.

Txeroki is a known hardliner who has come to symbolise a younger generation of radicals said to favour deadly violence at the expense of any clear political strategy for the group.

One example was an assassination attempt against King Juan Carlos in 2006 said to have been organised by Txeroki. An Eta volunteer armed with a telescopic rifle attempted to kill the Spanish monarch in an episode straight out of the pages ofThe Day of the Jackal. It was badly planned and the Eta suspect was detained at the Franco-Spanish border.

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