Spain in Eta talks, say reports

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The Spanish government has met members of the armed Basque group Eta for the first time since it called a ceasefire earlier this year, Spanish media say.

The meeting took place last Thursday in a foreign country, two Basque newspapers reported.

Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said he could neither confirm nor deny the report.

Eta has been blamed for more than 800 deaths during nearly four decades of violence in the cause of independence.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in June that he was opening a peace process with Eta, after the organisation declared a ceasefire in March.

Some opposition conservatives and relatives of Eta victims have sharply criticised the government's willingness to talk to the group.

The first meeting in the process has been highly anticipated.

In November Eta said it would abandon the peace process unless there was progress soon.

The newspapers El Correo Vasco and Deia said the meeting took place "in a European country" last Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

They said the group assured the government it would maintain the ceasefire.

The Cadena Ser radio station said "government sources" had confirmed that the meeting had taken place.

But Mr Rubalcaba said on Wednesday: "My ministry has never confirmed, denied or commented" on reports about the peace process.