Madrid  - France on Monday handed over to Spain Garikoitz Aspiazu, alias Txeroki, the former military leader of the militant Basque separatist group ETA who was captured in France in November 2008.

Txeroki, one of the ETA leaders to have allegedly ordered the most killings, was the first member of the group to have been extradited before investigations were concluded in France.

The 36-year-old will return to France on Saturday.

Spain will interrogate Txeroki about five attempted killings while he belonged to an ETA cell in 2002.

Txeroki is also believed to have ordered the car bombing that killed two Ecuadorian immigrants at Madrid airport in 2006, dealing the final blow to an attempt at peace talks between ETA and the Spanish government.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba welcomed the extradition as yet another sign of the "excellent" cooperation between France and Spain in the fight against terrorism.  dpa