French police have discovered two arms caches - probably belonging to the Basque separatist movement ETA - in the south of the country. The precise contents of today's caches in the towns of Ferrais-les-Montagnes and Vieussan in the Herault department could not be immediately confirmed.

A series of similar raids this week have uncovered three stashes of ETA weapons in France, one of them in the Alps. On Wednesday, police arrested three suspected members of ETA in the Alpine resort of Villarembert-le-Corbier. One of them is wanted by Spanish authorities in connection with a car bomb attack on the island of Mallorca in late July.

Police say the weapons find this week is the largest in years and bound to be a blow for ETA. The Basque separatist movement was founded more than 50 years ago to fight for an independent homeland in northern Spain and southern France. It has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in recent decades.