MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Members of the Basque separatist group ETA have shot dead a Spanish civil guard and seriously wounded another in southern France, Spanish officials said.
French police officers place a cover over a police car after a Spanish civil guard was shot dead.
It is the first fatality blamed on ETA in nearly a year. The separatist group claimed responsibility for a December 30, 2006, car bomb at the Madrid airport that killed two men and destroyed a parking garage.
The two plainsclothes civil guard officers were in Capbreton, France, to meet with French police about joint operations against ETA, which traditionally uses France as a base for its attacks in Spain, a Spanish Interior Ministry spokeswoman told CNN.
It appeared the ETA gunmen recognized the civil guards at a cafe where they had breakfast, the spokeswoman said. The gunmen followed the guards when they left the cafe, and shot them while they were getting into their car, she said.
She said there were three ETA suspects -- two men whom authorities believe are responsible for the shooting, and a woman.
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The ETA suspects fled in a car, later leaving it to commandeer a second car, the spokeswoman said. They held a French woman and her son but quickly released them, she said.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero canceled his schedule for the weekend and made a statement offering condolences to the slain civil guard's family, as well as words of support for the other civil guard who is in a French hospital. He vowed: "Those who did this will be arrested and tried, and will pay for this."
Spanish and French interior ministers who were attending a meeting in Germany, abruptly left the meeting to return to France.
ETA, which the United States and European Union list as a terrorist group, is blamed for more than 800 killings.
ETA declared a "permanent" cease-fire in March 2006, raising hopes for an end to the violence, but the car bomb at Madrid's airport shattered the fledgling peace process. E-mail to a friend
A Spanish civil guard was killed today and another seriously wounded in the town of Capbreton, on the southwest coast of France, in a shootout with suspected members of the Basque separatist group ETA.

The events occurred around 8:30 a.m. UTC, when the two plainclothes guards were entering in their car after leaving a coffee shop in the locality. They were then assaulted by two men who fired on them. Agent Raul Centeno Pallón died on the scene instantly, while Fernando Trapero Blázquez was injured seriously and is in a coma.

The civil guard were taking part in a joint surveillance operation with French police against ETA in southern France, when the two guardsmen were apparently detected and identified by the suspected ETA members. After the attack, the two suspected ETA members, and a woman who was with them, fled in a car. Having traveled about 70 kilometers, the two men abandoned the vehicle and robbed another car. The driver of the hijacked car was kidnapped, put in the trunk and finally left tied to a tree.

This is the first fatality blamed on ETA since it ended the last cease-fire in June, although it has carried out many non-fatal actions.

This incident comes a day after the National High Court of Spain issued arrest warrants to round up 46 of 52 Basque citizens prosecuted and sentenced previously on accusations of supporting ETA's separatist ideas.