Top ETA commander arrested in France

BORDEAUX, France, May 21 (UPI) -- Spanish and French officials announced Wednesday the arrest in France of a top member of the Basque separatist movement ETA.

Spanish officials said Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, known by his alias Thierry, and three other suspected ETA members were captured Tuesday night in Bordeaux.

Thierry surfaced as a top military and political commander in the Basque movement following the December 2006 car bomb that killed two people at the Madrid airport, The New York Times said.

ETA is linked to the more than 800 deaths from a 40-year conflict over independence in the Basque region of northern Spain.