Basque separatist group ETA announces cease fire in new video

Basque separatists ETA announce cease fire

MADRID — The Basque separatist militant group ETA declared a cease fire in a video statement issued on Sunday.

The video showed three masked militants making a statement in Basque. The statement appeared on Basque newspaper Gara’s website and was also made available to the British broadcaster BBC. Gara accompanied the video with a transcription of the statement in Basque and Spanish.

“ETA makes it known that as of some months ago it took the decision to no longer employ offensive armed actions,” the statement said, suggesting it is ready to pursue a “democratic process,” in trying to achieve its goals.

ETA is seeking an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France. It is considered a terrorist organization by the European Union and the U.S. It has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.

The group last announced what it called a “permanent cease-fire” in March 2006, but on Dec. 30 of the same year the organization set off a powerful car bomb at Madrid’s Barajas airport that killed two people.

It was not clear whether the new truce offer is permanent or whether ETA is signaling it is ready for peace talks with the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

There were no immediate response from Spanish authorities.

The group has been weakened by the arrests of several of its key leaders in Spain, France and Portugal, where a bomb-making factory was discovered by police.