Leaders of the Basque separatist movement ETA said the group had "completely dissolved all its structures" in a letter published on Wednesday in news portal El Diario Norte. The bloody campaign led by the group had claimed over 850 lives in the last 60 years.

Read more: ETA hands over weapons

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ETA said it was "putting an end to its journey" in the letter published on Wednesday.

The disbanding does not "overcome the conflict the Basque Country maintains with Spain and France," they added.

Spanish police will continue to pursue ETA members, who they called "terrorists," despite the move, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said.

The group declared a truce in 2011, handed over weapons in 2017 and apologized to its victims last month.

The latest ETA letter comes two days ahead of a scheduled peace conference in southwestern France.

ETA: A history of separatist violence What is ETA? An old man walks past graffiti depicting the logo of Basque separatist group ETA in Goizueta, Spain. ETA (an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, which roughly translates to Basque Country and Freedom) is a formerly-armed nationalist and separatist organization in the Basque Country in northern Spain and southwestern France.

ETA: A history of separatist violence ETA's transition A worker removes graffiti reading 'Gora ETA' (Long live ETA) in support of the group in downtown Pamplona, in northern Spain. ETA, considered a terrorist organization by the EU, was founded in 1959. Initially, it concentrated on promoting traditional Basque culture but later it evolved into a paramilitary group, engaging in a violent campaign of bombing, assassinations and kidnappings.

ETA: A history of separatist violence A bloody campaign Part of a 14-story building seen after a car bomb explosion in July 2009, in the Spanish city of Burgos. The bombing was blamed on ETA. The group engaged in a bloody campaign to carve out an independent Basque state from parts of northern Spain and southern France between 1968 and 2010. During that time, the group carried out roughly 4,000 terrorist attacks that left 829 people dead.

ETA: A history of separatist violence Assassination that changed history ETA's first revolutionary gesture was to fly the banned "ikurrina," the red and green Basque flag. In 1973, the group targeted Luis Carrero Blanco, long-time confidant of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The assassination changed the course of Spanish history as it led to the exiled king reclaiming the throne and a shift to a constitutional monarchy.

ETA: A history of separatist violence The big announcement ETA’s first known victim was a secret police chief in San Sebastian in 1968 and its last a French policemen shot in 2010. The group announced ceasefires earlier in 1989, 1996, 1998, 2006 and 2010. In 2011, ETA announced a "definitive cessation of its armed activity." The group announced on April 7, 2017 that it had given up all its weapons and explosives and would be officially disarming.

ETA: A history of separatist violence Dissolution in exchange for amnesty In January 2017, thousands of Spanish people protested for ETA prisoners to be relocated to jails close to their places of origin. ETA sought to negotiate its dissolution in exchange for amnesty or improved prison conditions for roughly 350 of its members held in Spain and France.

ETA: A history of separatist violence Independence via peaceful means Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the former Basque independence Batasuna party, as he left the Spain's Logrono prison in March 2016. In an interview this week in the Basque seaside city of San Sebastian, Otegi welcomed the disarmament move. The 58-year-old also insisted that independence for his Basque homeland remains very much in the cards - but via peaceful means this time.

ETA: A history of separatist violence A chapter comes to an end French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said, "this stage of neutralizing an arsenal of arms and explosives is a major step." Meanwhile, Spain demanded that ETA apologize for decades of violence and then disband definitively. In a statement, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the arms cache move signaled the "definitive defeat" of ETA. Author: Aasim Saleem



Ex-IRA leader hails ETA dissolution

The group representing ETA's victims, COVITO, slammed ETA shortly before the latest publication. COVITO head Consuelo Ordonez, whose brother was killed by ETA in 1995, said "the only decent sentence that the terrorists could have uttered starts and ends with, 'We should never have existed.'"

Read more: ETA still wants an independent Basque state

Spanish Interior Minister Zoido vowed to keep investigating unresolved crimes attributed to ETA and going after ts members. "ETA obtained nothing through its promise to stop killing, and it will obtain nothing by announcing what they call dissolution," he told reporters.

Former leader of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Gerry Adams, praised the ETA move adding it was a "historic opportunity to put conflict aside in that region."

Adams helped negotiate peace between IRA militants and UK authorities in 2005.

Fresh start for Basque country?

The Basque separatist movement has been winding down its activities for years, but the letter's publication on Wednesday marks a key step to the group's permanent closure. International mediators are working to conclusively end the dispute with Madrid and Paris at an upcoming peace conference on May 4. In its letter, ETA acknowledged its responsibility in failing to resolve the conflict. At the same time, they said the Basque region was "before a new opportunity to finally close the conflict and build a collective future." A 2017 poll found only 14 percent of Basque residents supported indepedence.

Watch video 03:12 Share ETA to give up their weapons Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/2auAC ETA to give up their weapons

Bombs and deaths squads

The separatist Basque movement was created in 1958 as a response to oppression by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. The group, originally gathering youths close to the Basque Nationalist Party, dubbed its self ETA for Euskadi ta Askatasuna or "Basque Homeland and Freedom" in the region's language.

Read more: Basque protesters in Paris demand ETA prisoner rights

The group assassinated Franco's prime minister and likely successor, Luis Carrero Blanco, in a 1973 bomb attack in Madrid.

Despite Franco's death in 1975, the group continued its armed campaign for Basque self-determination and the eventual independence of the region that includes territories in Spain and France. ETA militants conducted numerous bombing attacks across Spain in the coming decades, with over 850 people losing their lives. Spanish authorities responded with a brutal crackdown, setting up death squads to perform extrajudicial killings of ETA members.

The group was weakened in recent years in raids conducted by Spanish and French authorities. Most of its senior leaders were arrested. In April, the ETA asked for forgiveness from the victims who were "not involved in the conflict." However, they said its apology did not extend to "legitimate" targets such as politicians and security forces. Hundreds of crimes contributed to ETA remain unresolved to this day.

Watch video 01:08 ETA announces permanent ceasefire

Waiting for summit in France

ETA representatives apparently composed the latest letter on April 16 and sent it to various stakeholders in the conflict before making it public on Wednesday. The recipients included the Basque regional government and ex-UN Sectary-General Kofi Annan, who was one of the mediators in the dispute.

The group is expected to confirm its final dissolution in a video to be published on Thursday, according to media reports. A peace conference in France is scheduled for Friday.

dj/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP)