Basque militants reject call to disarm

Gun-toting Basque militants claiming to speak for ETA said the Basque separatist group will “keep taking up arms” until the region achieves independence, a newspaper said today – the starkest sign yet that a fledgling peace process seems to be struggling.

The warning came in a statement read last night – exactly six months after ETA declared what it called a permanent ceasefire – by one of three masked pro-ETA militants who appeared on a stage at a pro-independence rally in the village of Aritxulegi near San Sebastian, said the nationalist newspaper Gara, which often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA.