Spain's Aznar says he won't kneel to ETA separatists

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) -- Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar vowed on Tuesday not to give in to the Basque separatist group ETA after attacks seen as an escalation of its violent campaign for independence.

"They are not going to force us to our knees, and we are not going to change a policy of which we are fully convinced," Aznar told reporters during a state visit to Algeria.

Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards marched on Monday in protest against ETA, which has been blamed for a political killing and two car bombings in the past week.

ETA, whose initials stand for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has been linked to about 800 murders during its three-decade-long fight for an independent state in northern Spain and southern France.

Aznar's comments appeared to respond to criticism from Javier Arzalluz, head of the mainstream Basque Nationalist Party, who called on the government to "face up to its own responsibility" for failing to seek peaceful dialogue.

Josu Jon Imaz, spokesman for the Basque government, had chided Aznar for the government's unwillingness to negotiate with ETA to end the violence.

"We would ask Aznar if he understands that (US President) Bill Clinton got on his knees, if...(British Prime Minister) Tony Blair got on his knees, if...(French Prime Minister) Lionel Jospin got on his knees when they sought dialogue as a means to resolve conflicts and problems in their own societies," he said to reporters.

Moderate Basque nationalists share ETA's desire for self-determination, but reject its violent methods.

Analysts said that ETA's latest attacks were a show of muscle outside its base in northern Spain to encourage Aznar to negotiate its demand for an independent state.

The government has made resistance to negotiation a cornerstone of its policy on the Basque group.

A gunman killed town councilor Jose Maria Martin Carpena, 50, on Saturday night in the southern city of Malaga, the opposite end of the country from the troubled Basque region.

On Sunday, a car bomb exploded outside a Civil Guard barracks in north-central Spain, slightly injuring one person.

And last Wednesday an early morning car bomb blast outside a popular department store in central Madrid injured nine.

The killing of Martin Carpena, a member of Spain's ruling center-right Popular Party, was the sixth blamed on ETA since the guerrillas called off a 14-month ceasefire in December, accusing the government of intransigence.

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