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ETA: Long campaign of violence
 Police investigate a 2005 car bombing in northern Spain. RELATEDYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- The Basque separatist group ETA has been fighting for an independent Basque state in northern Spain since 1968. During that period, ETA has been blamed for killing more than 800 people, kidnapping 70 others and wounding thousands. ETA, founded in 1959, stands for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque for "Basque Homeland and Freedom." It killed what some say was its first victim in 1968. Since then it waged a campaign of violence against the Spanish state, targeting politicians, policemen, judges and soldiers. ETA's deadliest weapons have been car bombs, which caused numerous civilian casualties. In 1980 alone ETA was blamed for 118 deaths, and in 1995 it nearly succeeded in assassinating Jose Maria Aznar, then leader of the opposition and later Spain's prime minister. On September 16, 1998, the organization declared a "unilateral and indefinite" cease-fire, raising hopes that its campaign was at an end. ETA called off the cease-fire in November 1999, however, and 2000 saw a sharp escalation in violence. ETA has not killed anyone since 2003, and many of its recent attacks have been preceded by warning calls that gave police time to evacuate people before the bomb exploded. Fiercely independentThe Basque country, or Euskal Herria as it is known in Basque, straddles the western end of the Pyrenees, covering 20,664 square kilometers in northern Spain and southern France. Spain officially recognizes three Basque provinces, Alava, Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya. A fourth neighboring province, Navarra, is of Basque heritage. Separatists consider these four provinces plus three in France -- Basse Navarre, Labourd and Soule -- as the Basque country, with a population approaching 3 million. The area has always possessed a fiercely independent instinct. The Basque people are the oldest indigenous ethnic group in Europe and have lived uninterrupted in the same region since the beginning of recorded history. Their language, Euskera, which is spoken regularly by about 40 percent of Basque inhabitants, bears no relation to any other Indo-European tongue and dates back to before the Romans arrived in Spain. For many centuries the Basques of Spain enjoyed a strong degree of autonomy. The Basque region's hilly landscape helped keep its people isolated from outside influences. In the Spanish Civil War, two Basque provinces -- Guipuzcoa and Viscaya -- fought against Gen. Francisco Franco, while the provinces of Alava and Navarra fought for Franco. Under Franco's dictatorship (1939-75), most of the Basque region had its remaining autonomy rescinded. Its culture, people and language were suppressed. ETA and its demands for an independent Basque state arose in 1959 in the midst of this suppression. ETA has focused its activities on the Spanish side of the border. For many years France provided a safe haven for ETA members, a situation that began to change in the mid-1980s. The organization has financed its campaign through kidnapping, bank robbery and a so-called "revolutionary tax" on Basque businesses -- a payment widely regarded as plain extortion. According to the counter-terrorism office of the U.S. State Department, ETA members received training in Libya, Lebanon and Nicaragua, while the group also enjoyed close links with the Irish Republican Army. The Good Friday peace accord influenced ETA to call its cease-fire in 1998. 
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