Spanish government rejects Eta ceasefire and talks offer

It also ruled out negotiations on an independent Basque homeland, saying the militants had been decimated by arrests and were desperate to regroup and rearm.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Eta could not be trusted after shattering a 2006 truce with a deadly car bombing.

And he rejected the video statement released on Sunday by three hooded militants as falling short of what the Basques and other Spaniards demanded - that Eta renounce violence for good.

"The word truce, as the idea of a limited peace to open a process of dialogue, is dead," he declared, adding that the state would act as toughly as ever against Eta.

"The Interior Ministry will keep its anti-terrorism policy intact, absolutely intact. We are not going to change that policy one bit, not a single comma," he told Spanish National Television.