The Basque separatist group, ETA, said yesterday it would halt attacks aimed at putting pressure on the government to transfer prisoners to the Basque country of northern Spain.
Most of the bombings and other attacks staged by ETA in recent years had the stated aim of forcing the government to move all separatist prisoners from jails all over Spain to prisons in the Basque country.
The violence included the kidnapping and killing of a young Basque politician, Miguel Angel Blanco, in July. That case caused widespread outrage and drew millions of Spaniards on to the streets in protest.
Documents seized by police from an ETA unit suggest activists were preparing further attacks on conservative councillors in the Basque country to increase pressure on the government.
The ETA announcement was made in a statement published in the newspaper, Egin, which is close to the Basque separatist movement.
It came hours before the Interior Minister, Mr Jaime Mayor Oreja, was to meet leaders of political parties to discuss the government's policy on jailed members of ETA. ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna (HB), is not taking part in the meeting.
However, a spokesman for HB, Mr Floren Aoiz, said the ETA statement had "created a new situation. The government no longer has any excuse not to begin dialogue."
"A solution to the problem of the prisoners would be a first step towards an overall resolution of the conflict," he added.
Other Basque politicians gave yesterday's announcement a cautious welcome.
A leader of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which has five deputies elected for the autonomous Basque country, said the move was a "positive" step.
However, Mr Jose Antonio Rubalcaba called for ETA to go one step further by calling a complete ceasefire.
The leader of the communist United Left (Izquierda UnidaIU) coalition, Mr Javier Madrazo, said the announcement was "good news". The ETA has "made an important step. Things are moving within the nationalist movement," he said.
Mr Carmelo Barrio, regional secretary-general for the governing Popular Party, said he greeted the announcement with "complete scepticism and great caution", adding that the move was part of a "terrorist strategy".
An interior ministry spokesman said the government did not comment on ETA statements.
Successive Spanish governments have steadfastly refused ETA's demand that all Basque prisoners be held in the Basque country.
ETA's broader goal is to carve out an independent homeland in the north of Spain. Its violent drive began in the 1960s and has claimed hundreds of lives.
In yesterday's page-long statement written in Euskera, the Basque language, ETA, whose last truce goes back to June 1996, called on the general public, politicians and institutions to work together to bring about the transfer of prisoners.