Basque militant group ETA surrendered their arms to French authorities on Saturday, effectively ending almost half a century of conflict.

In a dramatic move, the separatists told French police where to find their weapons, explosives, and ammo. 

ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna - Basque Country and Freedom), which killed more than 850 people in its attempt to carve out an independent state in northern Spain and southwest France, declared a ceasefire in 2011, but did not give up its remaining arms.

ETA has given the French police a list of 12 arms caches located in the departments, or counties, of the Gers, Pyrénées-Atlantiques and Hautes-Pyrénées in southwestern France. The caches contain 120 firearms, about three tonnes of explosives and several thousand rounds of ammunition, their representative, Michel Tubiana said.

Calling the move “a major step,” the French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said the "Disarmament Day" was "incontestably important".

"As the locations are progressively identified, the security forces will carry out operations to secure these sites and secure arms and explosives that may be found there," he said. 

Founded in 1959, ETA has been blamed for the deaths of over 800 people in a string of bombings and shootings dating back to 1968. Thousands more were injured. 

ETA's first known victim was a secret police chief in San Sebastian in 1968 and its last a French policeman shot in 2010. The group chose not to disarm when it called its truce, but has been weakened in the past decade after hundreds of its members were arrested and weapons seized in joint Spanish and French operations.

Spain on Saturday demanded that ETA apologize for decades of violence. In a statement, Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said the arms cache move signaled the "definitive defeat" of ETA, and reiterated the group could expect no government favors as a result.

(Source: Reuters, AFP)