Arms and the men:A file photo shows masked members of ETA at a news conference at an undisclosed location.APThe Basque group ETA, which has fought a long and often-bloody drive for independence, provided France with a list of arms caches on Saturday under a promise to completely disarm, a move the government called “a major step.”ETA has said the initiative will bring the final curtain down on its decades-long armed campaign for a separate Basque country straddling the Spanish-French border. “This stage of neutralising an arsenal of arms and explosives is a major step,” French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said. French police were working to identify the locations and “secure these sites and secure arms and explosives that may be found there,” Mr. Fekl said. Founded in 1959, ETA has been blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a string of bombings and shootings dating back to 1968. Thousands more were injured.

Source: The Hindu April 09, 2017 00:34 UTC