Madrid  - Three suspected members of the militant Basque separatist group ETA were detained overnight in the French Alps, Spanish police sources said Wednesday.

The detainees included Alberto Machain Beraza, one of ETA's most wanted members, who is suspected of helping to launch a wave of bombings that claimed the lives of two Spanish police officers in late July.

The detainees were captured in Le Corbier in the Savoy region. The operation was carried out jointly by French and Spanish police.

Machain Beraza was among the six most wanted ETA members whose pictures were distributed by the Spanish Interior Ministry at the end of July.

The publication of the pictures followed bombings which injured about 65 people in the northern city of Burgos and claimed the lives of two officers of the paramilitary Civil Guard on the holiday island of Majorca.

The two other detainees were identified as Aitzol Etxaburu, whom media reports described as the logistics chief of ETA's military structure, and Andoni Sarasola.

ETA's military structure has been dealt heavy blows, with its leaders arrested repeatedly in the recent years.

ETA, which is blamed for more than 820 deaths since 1968, is regarded as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. (dpa)