The armed Basque separatist group ETA said on Sunday that the north-eastern Spanish regions incoming government, which has promised to crack down on the insurgency, were priority targets for attack.
The Socialist Party will take control of the Basque Country in the next few weeks after ousting the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), in power since 1980, following elections last month.
Its leader Patxi Lopez will be the first head of the Basque Country who unequivocally backs unity with the rest of Spain since the region was granted wide autonomy in 1979 after the end of the Franco dictatorship.
The Socialists signed a deal on April 1 with the conservative Popular Party to form a coalition after the PNV, which sought Basque independence through peaceful means, failed to win a majority in the March elections. In a statement published in Gara newspaper on Sunday, ETA said it expected "fascism and a violation of rights" from the new government.
"Unless there is a change of attitude, the political representatives of this imposed structure will be ETAs targets of priority," it said. Among intended measures, Lopez has said he will eliminate government aid to help the families of ETA prisoners pay for visits to far-away prisons. The two parties have also said they would give the security forces more funds to combat ETA.
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