MADRID The Basque separatist militant group ETA declared a cease-fire in a video statement issued Sunday, suggesting it might turn to a political process in its quest for an independent homeland.
The video, which appeared in Basque newspaper Gara's website and was also made available to the British broadcaster BBC, showed three masked militants making a statement in Basque. Gara accompanied the video with a transcription of the statement in Basque and Spanish.
There was no immediate response from Spanish government, but the El Pais newspaper, whose editorial line is closely aligned with the ruling Socialist party, said the government had called for "caution."
The newspaper said on its website that Interior Minister Alferdo Perez Rubalcaba had been in touch with the Basque regional government to assess the statement, especially considering that ETA's statement did not say that the group would give up its weapons.
"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 was ready to pursue a "democratic process" 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 militant group has declared cease-fires before, but none of them has led to the end of Europe's last major armed militancy.
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 international airport that killed two people. After the Dec. 30 bombing, the government had said it would not negotiate with the group again.
ETA's statement came days after two Basque pro-independence parties asked the group to declare "an internationally verifiable cease fire." One of the parties, Batasuna, was outlawed by authorities in 2003 on the grounds that it was ETA's political wing.
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.
Rubalcaba had said Friday he was expecting a cease-fire statement from ETA.
The militant group has been weakened by the arrests of several of its top leaders in Spain, France and Portugal, where a bomb-making factory was discovered and dismantled by police in February.
The last time ETA struck in Spain was July 2009, when a blast widely blamed on them killed two policemen in the resort island of Mallorca.
But the group is suspected of having shot and killed a French police officer near Paris in March.
Gara quoted an ETA statement at the time saying the shooting happened because French police had "kidnapped four ETA militants."
French police said they had captured the men during a suspected car theft.
