Basque party document indicates ETA likely to keep bombing for 10 years

The leading daily El Pais and other newspapers said the document reports that members of the ETA-linked coalition Euskal Herritarrok informed the Basque Nationalist Party in September that there was a new generation of gunmen in ETA who had come up from the vandalism gangs that regularly attack banks and businesses and the homes of anti-independence politicians.

The report said Euskal Herritarrok informed Basque regional government president Juan Jose Ibarretxe that the signs were that these youths had little political formation and were likely to me more in favor of indiscriminate attacks. It said Euskal Herritarrok felt ETA was prepared to keep killing for another eight to 10 years before considering negotiations.

ETA has killed some 800 people since 1968 in its bid for an independent Basque state. It is currently believed to be stepping up its campaign after failing to further its cause during a 14-month cease-fire which it ended last December. So far this year it is blamed for 19 killings, six last month alone.

During the cease-fire, a single set of secret talks with the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar proved fruitless with ETA demanding Basques' right to self-determination and the government insisting on a definitive end to the violence.

Ibarretxe's party is the main political group in the small northern region. It backs independence while being totally opposed to ETA. Over the past year it has been ostracized by the Spanish government because of its continued contacts with Euskal Herritarrok.

On Friday, Ibarretxe said he could not the remember the details of every meeting he has had with Euskal Herritarrok members and insisted that in these meetings his party has always sought ways to end the Basque region's conflict.

No one at Euskal Herritarrok could be reached for immediate comment. The coalition, supported by some 12 percent of Basque voters, denies it is the political wing of ETA. It is, however, the only parliamentary group which refuses to condemn the armed organization and its killings.

(AP)