Spanish PM makes first visit to Basque region since ETA bombing

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday made his first visit to the Basque region since the Basque separatist group ETA broke a nine-month ceasefire in December last year.

Zapatero, who urged all of the country's political forces to unite against ETA last month, ruled out any peace deal with the group amid violence at a Socialist party rally in Vitoria, capital of the region.

He told the gathering there would be no talk of peace unless violence in the region was completely forgotten.

ETA, an abbreviation of Basque Homeland and Freedom, has called for the establishment of an independent Basque state in the Basque region straddling the Spanish-French border.

On Dec. 30, the armed group killed two Ecuadorians in a bomb attack on a parking lot of Madrid's Barajas airport. With that attack ETA resumed its use of violence in its fight for independence. ETA's attacks have killed 850 people since 1968.

In January, Zapatero vowed to reach a broad democratic consensus in the fight against terrorism, saying "after the attack, I am willing to do all I can so that this one party united with all the others."

Source: Xinhua