MADRID - Two presumed members of Basque separatist group of ETA were arrested by police in southeast France on Sunday.

One of the pair Oroitz Gurrachaga is suspected to be the number one of ETA's military wing, while the other, Xabier Aramburu Sagarminaga, is thought to have formed part of ETA's recruitment wing.

Gurrutchaga and Aramburu were reported to be armed at the moment of their arrest in the small town of Cauna at around 15:30 local time (1330 GMT).

The operation means that 15 members of the organization, which wants the independence of the Basque region of northeast Spain and southwest France, have been arrested since ETA declared a definitive end to all violence on 20 October 2011, ETA had previously announced a ceasefire in January 2011.

The group's struggle for Basque independence has claimed 829 lives since it began in the mid 1960's.