The Basque armed group Eta has issued a statement saying it is ending its 43-year armed campaign for independence, and calling on Spain and France to open talks.
The announcement, published in Basque language newspaper Gara, follows a peace conference in the Basque country on Monday.
International leaders and ex-politicians – among them former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams - appealed to Eta to end its fight to carve out an independent Basque homeland from areas of northern Spain and southern France at the conference.
"Eta has decided the definitive cessation of its armed activity. Eta calls upon the
Spanish and French governments to open a process of direct dialogue with the aim of addressing the resolution of the conflict," the group said in a statement.
Three masked ETA members sat behind a table to read a statement in an online video and raised their fists in the air at the end of the statement. The group has come under pressure from its own political arm and former members, now in prison, to disband.
Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the statement from Eta was of "transcendent importance" and marked the "victory of democracy".
"This has been possible thanks to the mettle and strength of Spanish society, guided by the rule of law, which triumphs today as the only possible way for people to coexist," Mr Zapatero said.
"Our democracy will be one without terrorism, but not one without memory."
Eta called a permanent ceasefire in January which was dismissed by Mr Zapatero as meaningless unless they turned in arms.
The group has not killed anyone since March 2010 when a French police officer was killed by members of the group leaving the scene of a robbery. Spain's government says Eta has killed 829 people during its decades of guerrilla activity.
Mr Adams immediately welcomed Eta's statement. "[The] next steps should be about promoting reconciliation, addressing the issue of victims and recognising that a serious effort has to be made to heal personal and social wounds," he said in a statement.
"There are other issues which will need to be addressed and which can act as confidence building measures within the process. For example, among these are the issue of prisoners and of demilitarising the environment and of respecting and acknowledging the democratic rights of all political parties and treating them as equals."
Agencies