Basque ETA call for ceasefire - met with caution by Spanish authorities

The Basque separatist group has called for a halt to armed attacks but the Spanish government has said that the pronouncement was not sufficient and they pressed the much faded group to reject bloodshed forever.

Over fifty years ETA has slain more than 850 people in their armed fight for independence in northern Spain and southwest France,

The organisation has been ravaged by the arrest of its followers and an increase in backing among Basques for a political solution.

A video, materialized on the website of Gara, the Basque newspaper;  it showed three masked figures sat under the ETA emblem which portrays an axe and a snake, and it is flanked by the Basque flag.

A statement was announced in the Basque language, then all three raised their right fists in the air.

"ETA makes it known that for several months now it has taken the decision not to carry out armed attacks," said a record of the statement posted on the site and translated into Spanish.

The statement did not spell out if the cease-fire was going to be perpetual, nor did they say why they had decided to stop attacks.

The Spanish government has said it won't talk to ETA's political factions until they repudiate violence for good. ETA has breached two previous truces.