 The Basque terrorist separatist group Eta says its ceasefire with the Spanish government will end on Wednesday. In a message printed by the Basque newspaper Berria, the banned group says "minimum conditions for continuing a process of negotiations do not exist".
Eta declared a "permanent" ceasefire in March 2006, and had insisted it still held despite a bomb that killed two people at Madrid airport in December.
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After the attack Spain's Socialist government broke off peace talks.
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In its latest statement, Eta said that from Wednesday it would defend the Basque country "with weapons and on all fronts".
The announcement suggests that another big attack could be imminent, observers say. The group has killed more than 800 people in its four-decade campaign to set up an independent state in northern Spain and south-western France. Despite last December's attack, Eta's activities have been waning, with the number of bombings falling in recent years.
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