Madrid - Almost two years after the collapse of peace negotiations with the Spanish government, the militant Basque separatist group ETA is deeply divided, according to police intelligence.

The suspected ETA chief Francisco Javier Lopez Pena, alias Thierry, who was arrested in France in May, had been ostracized by the group, the Madrid-based El Pais newspaper reported Sunday.

The newspaper, quoting a police report, said his exclusion had been enforced by hardliners who wanted to punish the 49-year-old for being against further terrorist attacks.

Lopez Pena had been one of the main ETA negotiators during peace talks. However, the group's alleged terrorist command leader Garikoitz Aspiazu, alias Txeroki, took a hard line of wanting new attacks to put pressure on the government.

In October, 28 people were slightly injured in a car bomb attack on a university in northern Pamplona following Aspiazu's call for a new wave of violence.

Peace talks between ETA and the government were aborted in December 2006 after an ETA attack on an airport in Madrid that killed two people. Six months later, the group declared an end to their "permanent ceasefire."

ETA has for the last four decades has been fighting for Basque independence, a campaign that has claimed 850 lives. (dpa)