Spanish police dismantled the most active cell of the militant Basque separatist group ETA on Tuesday, detaining at least nine people, police said.

The detainees included Arkaitz Goikoetxea, 28, one of the most wanted ETA activists and suspected leader of its Vizcaya cell which is considered responsible for most of the group’s attacks since it ended a 14-month ceasefire in June 2007.

The arrests were made in several localities in the northern Basque region. Two people were also arrested in the southern tourist resort of Fuengirola and in Galicia in the north-west, news reports said.

Goikoetxea had been on the run since 2003, while most of the others led apparently normal lives.

The detainees reportedly included several women. Police searched several addresses.

The arrests were “a tough blow to the terrorist group, preventing future attacks,” the Basque regional government said.

Goikoetxea, who staged pro-ETA acts of street violence for a decade, is believed to have become the leader of the Vizcaya cell after ETA ended its truce following the failure of an attempt to negotiate with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist government.

The Vizcaya cell is held responsible for a string of attacks on police stations, courts, political party offices and the like since the end of the truce.

In the most serious attack, the cell bombed a police barracks in Legutiano, killing a police officer in May.

Most recently, ETA planted four bombs in two northern holiday resorts over the weekend, injuring one person.

At least 86 suspected ETA members or collaborators have been arrested so far this year.

ETA has killed more than 820 people in its four-decade campaign for an independent Basque state of over 2 million residents, carved out of northern Spain and southern France. (dpa)