Two ETA suspects arrested in France

Two suspected members of ETA who shot a French policeman on Saturday after running a highway control point in central France were arrested on Sunday.

The couple, who have not yet been identified, were arrested in the town of Croze, in the département of Creuse, in the centre of France, a spokesman for the region informed press.

According to official sources, the arrests took place between 10:45 and 11:20 am local time “following an exchange of gun-fire,”according to regional spokesman Guillaume Thirard, who also revealed that both suspects “were travelling on foot” when police intervened.

As such, judicial sources also confirmed that the Court in Paris, the competent authority in terrorist cases, has opened an investigation into the case of the two ETA suspects, currently being held in a police station in Aubusson, located in the same département.

Sources have indicated that two arrests were carried out, firstly on a man and subsequently on a woman, and that both will remain in custody until being transferred to Paris where they will appear in court before an anti-terrorist judge.

On Sunday morning, helicopter and police dogs were used to locate the two suspects, who had been driving a car of the make Ford, which was found abandoned on Saturday evening after two confrontations with French police.

At the first highway control, which was situated on a road leading to a campsite in the town of Vallière in the département of Creuse, the vehicle failed to stop and was subsequently pursued by police.

According to the website of local French newspaper Le Populaire, a chase immediately ensued during which one of the occupants of the vehicle took out a gun and began shooting at police, one of whom was seriously injured.

Official sources reveal that the life of the injured policeman, taken to hospital in Limoges, is no longer in any danger.

The same sources assured that, due to the "manner" in which events unfolded, the behaviour of the suspects "strongly resembles" that of ETA, although there it is still not certain whether they are members of the armed group.

After the vehicle escaped for the highway control in Vallière, the Epervier Plan was put in place, which is the usual procedure in the case of escaped suspects.

The vehicle, which was later abandoned, was later discovered in a neighbouring département of Corrèze, in the town of Meymac, in whose business district, situated some 50 kilometres from the site of the first shoot-out, a second exchange of fire between police and the suspects took place.

The French gendarmerie and French judicial police are in charge of the case, which continues.