Basque separatist group ETA has announced the end of its 15-month ceasefire as a result of not reaching a peace process with the Spanish government.

The announcement was made via the Basque newspapers Berria and Gara, warning ETA would “be active on all fronts to defend the Basque Country.” The ceasefire would end Wednesday, ETA said.

In May 2003, the separatists group killed two police officers with a bomb. After that deadly incident, the violence subdued. In March 2006, ETA declared a “permanent ceasefire,” encouraged by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Spain’s Socialist prime minister alleged willingness to begin peace talks.

Government and ETA representatives met last year but as neither party was willing to make concessions, the peace process stalled.

The government has refused to discuss Basque independence or to relinquish judicial and police pursuit of ETA-linked separatists. The Basque nationalist organization maintained its demands and refused to condemn violent tactics.

After the December 2006 attack at Barajas, when two persons were killed, the government forwent the peace process. The ETA claimed the bombing was meant as a warning.

The announcement in the Basque newspapers says the “minimal conditions” for negotiating no longer exist. ETA also accuses Zapatero of “fascism” and accuses the Spanish government of responding to the ceasefire with “arrests, torture and persecution.”