Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- The Basque separatist group ETA released a cease-fire statement Sunday to various media, including the Basque newspaper Gara, where it typically releases information.
ETA has announced cease-fires before and broken them, notably the unilateral 2006 cease-fire that was announced as "permanent," only to be broken months later with a car bomb at Madrid's airport that killed two people.
In a statement published on the Gara website on Sunday, ETA --- which is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its long fight for Basque independence in northern Spain and southwest France -- calls on the Spanish government to "agree to the minimum democratic solutions necessary to start a democratic process".
Officials at Spain's Interior Ministry said the cease-fire announcement was being studied cautiously but that no senior officials were due to speak publicly about it, CNN affiliate CNN+ reported.
The prime minister's office told CNN it had no comment.
The latest cease-fire announcement was not unexpected, following weeks of calls for a new peace process by some smaller leftist Basque political parties.
CNN
