FACTBOX: Key facts about Basque separatist group ETA

(Reuters) - Garikoitz Aspiazu Rubina, known by his alias "Txeroki" or "Cherokee," the suspected military leader of Basque separatist rebel group ETA has been arrested in south western France, the French interior ministry said on Monday.

Following are some details about ETA:

WHAT IS ETA?

* ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or Basque Country and Freedom) is fighting for an independent Basque state in northern Spain and southwestern France.

* Spain, the United States and the European Union list ETA as a terrorist organization. The group has killed more than 800 people since 1968, typically with car bombs or shootings.

* More than 750 suspected ETA members have been detained since 2000.

THE POLITICS:

* Both Spanish socialist and conservative governments have tried to negotiate with ETA. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero started peace talks after ETA declared a ceasefire in March 2006 but called them off when the separatists killed two people later that year.

* Spain has banned Basque political party Batasuna for being ETA's political wing, an allegation the party denies. In February 2008 Spanish courts also banned two other Basque parties, the Accion Nacionalista Vasca (ANV) and Partido Comunista de la Tierra Vasca (PCTV) from taking part in March's national election.

AN ARREST AND A CLAIM:

* A top ETA commander, Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, also known as Thierry, was arrested last May, together with three other suspected ETA leaders in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux. He had been on the run for more than 20 years.

* ETA claimed responsibility earlier this month for 10 bombings including one which killed a soldier and said it would press its campaign until Basque rights were recognized. The list included the most recent on October 30 when a car bomb exploded at a university in Navarre region, slightly wounding 17 people.