Spain's Basque separatist group ETA declared on Monday a permanent ceasefire, Basque regional newspaper Gara has said.
"ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community," the group said in its statement on www.gara.net.
The Basque nationalist group said the move signals its "firm commitment toward a process to achieve a lasting resolution and toward an end to the armed confrontation."
In the statement, ETA calls on Spain to "end all repressive measures" and vows to continue "struggle and efforts to promote and bring to a conclusion the democratic process."
ETA, founded in 1959, is recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States. The group is known to have killed over 850 people in the past 50 years while fighting for an independent Basque state.
ETA has broken several ceasefires in the past, most recently in 2006 with a deadly bomb attack at the Madrid Barajas international airport.
The latest statement is a confirmation to the ceasefire announced by the group in September 2010, in which it said it wished to use "peaceful, democratic means" to achieve its aims but failed to specify whether it was permanent.
MADRID, January 10 (RIA Novosti)
