ETA Factfile

Following is a chronology of the history of the Basque separatist group ETA and some of its major attacks. ETA has killed around 850 people since 1968 in its fight for Basque independence.

1959: Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), or Basque Homeland and Freedom, founded during dictatorship of General Francisco Franco to fight for Basque self-determination.

1968: ETA carries out first planned killing: victim is Meliton Manzanas, police chief in Basque city San Sebastian.

1973: General Franco's Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco killed when car passes over explosives planted by ETA in Madrid.

1980: ETA's bloodiest year, nearly 100 killed, despite Spain's recent return to democracy.

June, 1987: ETA's bloodiest attack so far - 21 shoppers killed when bomb hits Barcelona supermarket. ETA apologises for "mistake".

April, 1995: Popular Party opposition leader Jose Maria Aznar, later to become prime minister, is target of ETA car bomb. Saved by vehicle's armour plating.

August, 1995: Police foil ETA plot to kill King Juan Carlos.

July, 1997: Basque town councillor Miguel Angel Blanco kidnapped and killed. Six million people demonstrate.

September, 1998: ETA announces truce.

June, 1999: Government says it held talks with ETA.

November 28, 1999: ETA announces ceasefire to end on December 3.

February 22, 2000: Car bombing in Vitoria kills local Socialist politician Fernando Buesa and his bodyguard, Jorge Diez.

September 15, 2000: French police arrest Ignacio Gracia Arregui, alias Inaki of Renteria, alleged top ETA leader.

November 21, 2000: Former Socialist health minister Ernest Lluch shot dead in Barcelona. Nearly a million demonstrate.

November 6, 2001: A car bomb explodes in Madrid, injuring 95 but missing a senior civil servant believed to be target. Two suspected ETA members arrested.

November 23, 2001: Two police officers killed in Beasain south of San Sebastian. Ana Isabel Arostegi was first female officer in Basque police force killed by ETA.

March 4, 2002: Police defuse bomb planted at Bilbao stock exchange in the name of the Basque separatist group.

May 1, 2002: Car bomb explodes near Madrid soccer stadium hours before European Champions League semi-final. Emergency officials say 17 people treated for injuries or shock.

June 21, 2002: Three car bombs explode in a single day in towns of Fuengirola, Marbella and Zaragoza before two-day summit of EU leaders in Seville. Seven are injured.

December 4, 2003: French police arrest Ibon Fernandez Iradia, a suspected military commander of ETA who escaped from custody in France almost a year before.

February 18, 2004: ETA calls truce in Spanish region of Catalonia, less than a month before general elections.

February 29, 2004: Spanish police avert a possible massacre by intercepting a van carrying more than 500 kg of explosives ETA planned to detonate in Madrid.