Police in France have arrested a man and a woman suspected of being top leaders of the militant Basque separatist group ETA.

Aznar described Batasuna leaders as "filth"

The couple - Juan Antonio Olarra Guribi and Ainhoa Mugica - were arrested near Bordeaux in south-western France in a joint operation by French and Spanish police.

Spanish media said the two suspected ETA leaders had fled from Spain to France in 1996, from where they had formed part of the leadership of the outlawed armed group.

ETA has killed 836 people and injured more than 2,300 since 1968 in a campaign for an independent Basque homeland in north Spain and southwest France.

'Major victory'

These were the first high-profile arrests of ETA suspects this year. The Spanish authorities are calling it a major victory for the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

ETA presses for Basque outright independence

The BBC's Claire Marshall in Spain says Mr Olarra is believed to be ETA's current military head, following the arrest of the group's previous military chief, Francisco Javier Garcia Gaztelu, in February last year.

Ainhoa Mugica is accused of taking part in one of ETA's most notorious killings - the murder of the former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, Francisco Tomas y Valiente in 1996.

Mr Aznar's government has been leading a campaign to outlaw the radical Basque nationalist party Batasuna, the political wing of ETA, after it was banned by a judge for three years.

Bombing attacks

In recent months ETA has been blamed for a string of bomb attacks aimed at disrupting Spain's important tourism industry.

Police barracks were badly damaged in Santa Pola bombing

Mr Aznar was furious when Batasuna refused to condemn a car bombing in the resort of Santa Pola last month, which killed a six-year-old girl and a 57-year old man.

He told activists from his ruling Popular Party on Saturday that Batasuna would be pursued relentlessly.

Batasuna says that the continuing violence is the result of the policies of Mr Aznar's conservative government.