Basque separatists ETA disband

After a 50-year campaign to create an independent state in northern Spain and southwest France, the Basque separatist group ETA has announced that it has disbanded and ceased all activity.

In a recent letter sent to online newspaper El Diario, the group said it had completely dismantled all its structures.

ETA declared a ceasefire in 2011 and handed over its weapons in April 2017, bringing Western Europe's last major armed insurgency to a close.

Founded in 1959 out of anger and frustration from political repression under Spain's then dictator, General Franco, It launched a campaign that included assassinations and bombings aimed at the Spanish state, which killed more than 800 people.