MADRID, Sept 9: The armed Basque separatist group ETA, several of whose members were netted in recent swoops, on Sunday vowed to “keep striking” in Spain in their first statement after the June rupture of a truce with Madrid.

ETA, which is blamed for the deaths of 819 people in its 39-year drive for an independent Basque homeland, said it would press on with “striking at Spanish state structures on all fronts”. The statement was published in the two Basque-language newspapers Gara and Berria which often act as the group’s mouthpieces.

ETA, which unilaterally ended the ceasefire on June 5, again underlined “the right of the Basque nation to freely determine its future”. It said attacks against the Spanish government would continue until “there are democratic conditions which allow political schemes to be protected”.

The statement was taken as a reference to ETA demands for self-determination for the Basque country in northern Spain and south-western France.

ETA also claimed responsibility for a small explosion on July 25 as the Tour de France bicycle race went through the northern town of Navarro, a stronger blast against a civil guard barracks in the northern town of Durango in August, and two other blasts. Twenty-two ETA suspects have been arrested in Spain and France since the group said it was ending a ceasefire over the lack of progress in direct peace talks with Madrid.

The group on Sunday accused Madrid of following “a process to get ETA to surrender” instead of holding substantive peace talks.

Spain’s ruling Socialists interpreted ETA’s latest threat as a sign of despair.

Party general secretary Jose Blanco said the group had “lost all hope” as the government had seen through its “pretensions”. But the conservative main opposition Popular Party said the combative stand was a “confirmation” that ETA meant business and urged the government to wage full-scale war against the separatists.—AFP