MADRID Following is a chronology of main events in the history of the Basque separatist group ETA and most recent attacks in its campaign for an independent state.

1959: Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA), or Basque Homeland and Freedom, founded during dictatorship of General Francisco Franco to fight for Basque self-determination.

1968: ETA carries out first planned killing: Victim is Meliton Manzanas, police chief in Basque city San Sebastian.

1973: Franco's prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco killed when car passes over explosives planted by ETA in Madrid.

1980: ETA's bloodiest year, nearly 100 killed, despite Spain's recent return to democracy.

1987, June: ETA's bloodiest attack -- 21 shoppers killed when bomb hits Barcelona supermarket. ETA apologizes for "mistake".

1995, April: Popular Party opposition leader Jose Maria Aznar, later to become prime minister, is target of ETA car bomb. Saved by vehicle's armor plating.

1995, August: Police foil ETA plot to kill King Juan Carlos.

1997, July: Basque town councilor Miguel Angel Blanco kidnapped and killed. Six million people demonstrate.

1998, September: ETA announces truce.

1999, June: Government says it held talks with ETA.

1999, November 28: ETA announces cease-fire to end on December 3.

2000, January 21: Army Lieutenant-Colonel Pedro Antonio Blanco killed in Madrid car bombing.

2000, February 22: Car bombing in Vitoria kills local socialist politician Fernando Buesa and his bodyguard, Jorge Diez.

2000, May 7: Newspaper columnist Jose Luis de la Calle shot dead outside his home in the Basque region.

2000, June 4: Local politician Jesus Maria Pedrosa of Popular Party shot dead in Basque city of Durango.

2000, July 15: Malaga city councilor Jose Maria Martin Carpena of Popular Party shot dead in southern Spain.

2000, July 29: Basque socialist politician Juan Maria Jauregui shot inside cafe in Tolosa, dies at local hospital

2000, August 7: Car loaded with arms and explosives blows up on the streets in Bilbao, killing four suspected ETA members.

2000, August 8: Car bomb kills Basque businessman Jose Maria Korta near San Sebastian. Second car bomb injures 11 in Madrid.

2000, August 9: Spanish Army officer Francisco Casanova shot dead in Pamplona.

2000, August 20: Civil guard officers Irene Fernandez and Jose Angel de Jesus killed by bomb near border with France.

2000, August 29: Ruling party politician Manuel Indiano shot dead while working in his sweet shop in town of Zumarraga.

2000, September 15: French police arrest Ignacio Gracia Arregui, Alias Inaki of Renteria, alleged top ETA leader.

2000, September 21: Jose Luis Ruiz Casado, a Popular Party town councilor, shot dead in a suburb of Barcelona.

2000, October 9: Prosecutor Luis Portero killed in Granada.

2000, October 16: Military doctor Antonio Munoz Carinanos shot dead in Seville. Two suspected gunmen captured by police.

2000, October 22: Prison officer Maximo Casado Carrera killed in a bomb attack while heading for work.

2000, October 30: Car bomb explodes a residential suburb of Madrid, killing Supreme Court judge Francisco Querol, bodyguard Jesus Escudero and driver Armando Medina and injuring 60. Bus driver Jesus Sanchez, dies nine days later.

2000, November 21: Former socialist health minister Ernest Lluch is shot dead in Barcelona. Nearly a million demonstrate.

2000, December 12: Ruling Popular Party and main opposition Socialists sign pact to join forces against terrorism.

2000, December 14: Popular Party town councillor Francisco Cano Consegra killed in bombing in Catalonia region.

2000, December 20: Municipal policeman Juan Miguel Gervilla shot dead in Barcelona.

2001, January 26: Navy cook Ramon Diaz Garcia killed by a bomb in his car in San Sebastian in first assassination of 2001 blamed on ETA.

(Reuter)