I don't have a problem with CNN's wording. It focuses on the points on which I think we can all agree: they're Basque, they're a group, and Basque independence is their stated goal. And they're killing people: that is the essence of the CNN reports. Anything beyond that gets into loaded language: the line between a freedom-fighter and a terrorist is mighty slim. (Wasn't it Benjamin Franklin who observed that revolutions are always illegal in the third person and legal in the first person?)

Whatever they are, they're killing innocent people and should expect to face the consequences.