MADRID �� The Basque separatist group ETA revealed the locations of weapons dumps in France, signaling that the movement has disarmed after suspending its struggle for independence from Spain, according to international monitors.
Ram Manikkalingam, head of the International Verification Committee, said Saturday that the group had received information on the arms caches and passed it on immediately to French authorities. The eight caches contain 120 firearms, three tons of explosives, detonators and ammunition, El Mundo newspaper reported.
"This is a big step in neutralizing this arsenal of explosive weapons," French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said in a statement. "This is an incontestably important day."
ETA, which killed more than 800 people in a more than four-decade fight to force Spain to grant independence to the Basque region, announced a permanent cease-fire in 2011. The group, whose initials stand for Basque Homeland and Freedom, started its campaign for an independent nation carved out of northern Spain and southwestern France in 1968, when Spain was under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
"This step constitutes the disarming of ETA," Manikkalingam, the chief monitor, said in Bayonne, France.
The Spanish government had no comment on the handover, a spokeswoman said Saturday. Cabinet spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo said Friday that Spain's position demanding the disarming and dissolution of ETA hasn't changed.
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(Mark Deen contributed to this report.)
