A relation between an instance of an Organization
and the approximate number of members in the Organization.
A relation between an instance of an Organization
and the approximate number of members in the Organization.
A relation between an instance of an Organization
and the approximate number of members in the Organization.
A Foreign Terrorist Organization
is an Organization designated by the USStateDeparment as one which
conducts acts of terrorism. This designation makes it subject to the
AntiterrorismAndEffectiveDeathPenaltyAct.
A group that uses violent means in an
attempt to bring about their political aims. Those violent means are
distinguished from a war between nations, or a civil war in that the group
is at least partially clandestine and a significant proportion of its acts
are against non-military targets.
The Leader of the KurdistanWorkersParty.
The Leader of the PeopleAgainstGangsterismAndDrugs.
The Leader of the SenderoLuminoso.
Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims
Fatah Revolutionary Council
Black September
ANO
Arab Revolutionary Brigades
Abu Nidal organization
Location/Area of Operation:
Al-Banna relocated to Iraq in December 1998, where the group maintains a
presence. Has an operational presence in Lebanon, including in several
Palestinian refugee camps. Financial problems and internal
disorganization have reduced the group's activities and capabilities.
Authorities shut down the ANO's operations in Libya and Egypt in 1999.
Has demonstrated ability to operate over wide area, including the Middle
East, Asia, and Europe.
The Abu Nidal organization is an
international terrorist organization led by Sabri al-Banna. Split from
PLO in 1974. Made up of various functional committees, including
political, military, and financial.
Activities:
Has carried out terrorist attacks in 20 countries, killing or injuring
almost 900 persons. Targets include the United States, the United
Kingdom, France, Israel, moderate Palestinians, the PLO, and various Arab
countries. Major attacks included the Rome and Vienna airports in
December 1985, the Neve Shalom synagogue in Istanbul and the Pan Am flight
73 hijacking in Karachi in September 1986, and the City of Poros
day-excursion ship attack in Greece in July 1988. Suspected of
assassinating PLO deputy chief Abu Iyad and PLO security chief Abu Hul in
Tunis in January 1991. ANO assassinated a Jordanian diplomat in Lebanon
in January 1994 and has been linked to the killing of the PLO
representative there. Has not attacked Western targets since the late
1980s.
External Aid:
Has received considerable support, including safehaven, training, logistic
assistance, and financial aid from Iraq, Libya, and Syria (until 1987), in
addition to close support for selected operations.
Strength:
A few hundred plus limited overseas support structure.
ASG
Abu Sayyaf Group
The ASG is the smallest and most radical of
the Islamic separatist groups operating in the southern Philippines. Some
ASG members have studied or worked in the Middle East and developed ties
to mjuahidin while fighting and training in Afghanistan. The group split
from the Moro National Liberation Front in 1991 under the leadership of
Abdurajik Abubakar Janjalani, who was killed in a clash with Philippine
police on 18 December 1998. Press reports place his younger brother,
Khadafi Janjalani, as the nominal leader of the group, which is composed
of several factions.
Location/Area of Operation: The ASG
primarily operates in the southern Philippines with members occasionally
traveling to Manila, but the group expanded its operations to Malaysia
this year when it abducted foreigners from two different resorts.
Activities: Engages in bombings,
assassinations, kidnappings, and extortion to promote an independent
Islamic state in western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, areas in the
southern Philippines heavily populated by Muslims. Raided the town of
Ipil in Mindanao in April 1995--the group's first large-scale action--and
kidnapped more than 30 foreigners, including a US citizen, in 2000.
200
Strength: Believed to have about 200 core
fighters, but more than 2,000 individuals motivated by the prospect of
receiving ransom payments for foreign hostages allegedly joined the group
in August.
External Aid: Probably receives support from
Islamic extremists in the Middle East and South Asia.
The Leader of the PopularFrontForTheLiberationOfPalestineGeneralCommand.
al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade
Al Faran
Islamic Group
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya
IG
Egypt's largest militant group, active
since the late 1970s; appears to be loosely organized. Has an external
wing with a worldwide presence. The group issued a cease-fire in March
1999, but its spiritual leader, Shaykh Umar Abd al-Rahman, incarcerated in
the United States, rescinded his support for the cease-fire in June 2000.
The Gama'a has not conducted an attack inside Egypt since August 1998.
Rifa'i Taha Musa-a hardline former senior member of the group-signed Usama
Bin Ladin's February 1998 fatwa calling for attacks against US civilians.
The IG since has publicly denied that it supports Bin Ladin and frequently
differs with public statements made by Taha Musa. Taha Musa has in the
last year sought to push the group toward a return to armed operations,
but the group, which still is led by Mustafa Hamza, has yet to break the
unilaterally declared cease-fire. In late 2000, Taha Musa appeared in an
undated video with Bin Ladin and Ayman al-Zawahiri threatening retaliation
against the United States for Abd al-Rahman's continued incarceration.
The IG's primary goal is to overthrow the Egyptian Government and replace
it with an Islamic state, but Taha Musa also may be interested in
attacking US and Israeli interests.
External Aid: Unknown. The Egyptian
Government believes that Iran, Bin Ladin, and Afghan militant groups
support the organization. Also may obtain some funding through various
Islamic nongovernmental organizations.
Activities: Group specialized in armed
attacks against Egyptian security and other government officials, Coptic
Christians, and Egyptian opponents of Islamic extremism before the
cease-fire. From 1993 until the cease-fire, al-Gama'a launched attacks on
tourists in Egypt, most notably the attack in November 1997 at Luxor that
killed 58 foreign tourists. Also claimed responsibility for the attempt
in June 1995 to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia. The Gama'a has never specifically attacked a US citizen
or facility but has threatened US interests.
Location/Area of Operation: Operates
mainly in the Al-Minya, Asyu't, Qina, and Sohaj Governorates of southern
Egypt. Also appears to have support in Cairo, Alexandria, and other urban
locations, particularly among unemployed graduates and students. Has a
worldwide presence, including Sudan, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan,
Austria, and Yemen.
Strength: Unknown. At its peak the IG
probably commanded several thousand hard-core members and a like number of
sympathizers. The 1998 cease-fire and security crackdowns following the
attack in Luxor in 1997 probably have resulted in a substantial decrease
in the group's numbers.
Jihad Group
Islamic Jihad
Al-Jihad
Egyptian Islamic Jihad
External Aid: Not known. The Egyptian Government
claims that both Iran and Bin Ladin support the Jihad. Also may obtain
some funding through various Islamic nongovernmental organizations, cover
businesses, and criminal acts.
Egyptian Islamic extremist group active since the
late 1970s. Close partner of Bin Ladin's al-Qaida organization. Suffered
setbacks as a result of numerous arrests of operatives worldwide, most
recently in Lebanon and Yemen. Primary goals are to overthrow the
Egyptian Government and replace it with an Islamic state and attack US and
Israeli interests in Egypt and abroad.
Location/Area of Operation: Operates in the Cairo
area. Has a network outside Egypt, including Yemen, Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Sudan, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom.
Strength:
Not known but probably has several hundred hard-core members.
Activities: Specializes in armed attacks against
high-level Egyptian Government personnel, including cabinet ministers, and
car-bombings against official US and Egyptian facilities. The original
Jihad was responsible for the assassination in 1981 of Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat. Claimed responsibility for the attempted assassinations of
Interior Minister Hassan al-Alfi in August 1993 and Prime Minister Atef
Sedky in November 1993. Has not conducted an attack inside Egypt since
1993 and has never targeted foreign tourists there. Responsible for
Egyptian Embassy bombing in Islamabad in 1995; in 1998, planned attack
against US Embassy in Albania was thwarted.
al-Qaeda
al-Qaida
External Aid: Bin Ladin, son of a billionaire Saudi
family, is said to have inherited approximately $300 million that he uses
to finance the group. Al-Qaida also maintains moneymaking front
organizations, solicits donations from like-minded supporters, and
illicitly siphons funds from donations to Muslim charitable organizations.
Location/Area of Operation: Al-Qaida has a
worldwide reach, has cells in a number of countries, and is reinforced by
its ties to Sunni extremist networks. Bin Ladin and his key lieutenants
reside in Afghanistan, and the group maintains terrorist training camps
there.
Strength: May have several hundred to several
thousand members. Also serves as a focal point or umbrella organization
for a worldwide network that includes many Sunni Islamic extremist groups
such as Egyptian Islamic Jihad, some members of al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya,
the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, and the Harakat ul-Mujahidin.
Activities: Plotted to carry out terrorist
operations against US and Israeli tourists visiting Jordan for millennial
celebrations. (Jordanian authorities thwarted the planned attacks and put
28 suspects on trial.) Conducted the bombings in August 1998 of the US
Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, that killed at
least 301 persons and injured more than 5,000 others. Claims to have shot
down US helicopters and killed US servicemen in Somalia in 1993 and to
have conducted three bombings that targeted US troops in Aden, Yemen, in
December 1992. Linked to the following plans that were not carried out:
to assassinate Pope John Paul II during his visit to Manila in late 1994,
simultaneous bombings of the US and Israeli Embassies in Manila and other
Asian capitals in late 1994, the midair bombing of a dozen US
trans-Pacific flights in 1995, and to kill President Clinton during a
visit to the Philippines in early 1995. Continues to train, finance, and
provide logistic support to terrorist groups in support of these goals.
Established by Usama Bin Ladin in the late 1980s
to bring together Arabs who fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet
invasion. Helped finance, recruit, transport, and train Sunni Islamic
extremists for the Afghan resistance. Current goal is to establish a
pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic
extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems 'non-Islamic' and expelling
Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries. Issued statement under
banner of 'the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and
Crusaders' in February 1998, saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill
US citizens--civilian or military--and their allies everywhere.
ABB
Alex Boncayao Brigade
External Aid:
Unknown.
Location/Area of Operation:
Operates in Manila and central Philippines.
Activities: Responsible for more than
100 murders and believed to have been involved in the murder in 1989 of US
Army Col. James Rowe in the Philippines. In March 1997 the group
announced it had formed an alliance with another armed group, the
Revolutionary Proletarian Army. In March 2000, the group claimed credit
for a rifle grenade attack against the Department of Energy building in
Manila and strafed Shell Oil offices in the central Philippines to protest
rising oil prices.
Strength:
Approximately 500.
500
The ABB, the breakaway urban hit squad
of the Communist Party of the Philippines New People's Army, was formed in
the mid-1980s.
Algeti Wolves
Amal
Antiterrorism and Effective
Death Penalty Act modifies the Immigration and Nationality Act
was enacted in 1996 and specifies that:
(1) It is unlawful to provide funds or other material support to a
designated FTO.
(2) Representatives and certain members of a designated FTO can be denied
visas or excluded from the United States.
(3) US financial institutions must block funds of designated FTOs and their
agents and must report the blockage to the US Department of the Treasury.
Armata Corsa
GIA
Armed Islamic Group
The Salafi Group for Call and Combat
(GSPC) splinter faction appears to have eclipsed the GIA since
approximately 1998 and is currently assessed to be the most effective
remaining armed group inside Algeria. Both the GIA and GSPC leadership
continue to proclaim their rejection of President Bouteflika's amnesty,
but in contrast to the GIA, the GSPC has stated that it limits attacks on
civilians. The GSPC's planned attack against the Paris-Dakar Road Rally
in January 2000 demonstrates, however, that the group has not entirely
renounced attacks against high-profile civilian targets.
Location/Area of Operation:
Algeria.
An Islamic extremist group, the GIA aims
to overthrow the secular Algerian regime and replace it with an Islamic
state. The GIA began its violent activities in 1992 after Algiers voided
the victory of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS)--the largest Islamic
opposition party--in the first round of legislative elections in December
1991.
Activities: Frequent attacks against
civilians and government workers. Between 1992 and 1998 the GIA conducted
a terrorist campaign of civilian massacres, sometimes wiping out entire
villages in its area of operation. Since announcing its campaign against
foreigners living in Algeria in 1993, the GIA has killed more than 100
expatriate men and women--mostly Europeans--in the country. The group
uses assassinations and bombings, including car bombs, and it is known to
favor kidnapping victims and slitting their throats. The GIA hijacked an
Air France flight to Algiers in December 1994. In late 1999 several GIA
members were convicted by a French court for conducting a series of
bombings in France in 1995.
External Aid: Algerian expatriates and
GSPC members abroad, many of whom reside in Western Europe, provide
financial and logistic support. In addition, the Algerian Government has
accused Iran and Sudan of supporting Algerian extremists.
Strength:
Unkown; probably several hundred to several thousand.
ALIR
Former Armed Forces
Interahamwe
Army for the Liberation of Rwanda
ex-FAR
External Support From the
Rwandan invasion of 1998 until his death in early 2001, the Laurent Kabila
regime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo provided the ALIR with
training, arms, and supplies.
Strength: Several thousand
ALIR regular forces operate alongside the Congolese Army on the front
lines of the Congo civil war, while a like number of ALIR guerrillas
operate behind Rwanda lines in eastern Congo closer to the Rwandan border
and sometimes within Rwanda.
The FAR was the army of the
Rwandan Hutu regime that carried out the genocide of 500,000 or more
Tutsis and regime opponents in 1994. The Interahamwe was the civilian
militia force that carried out much of the killing. The groups merged
after they were forced from Rwanda into the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (then-Zaire) in 1994. They are now often known as the Army for the
Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR), which is the armed branch of the PALIR or
Party for the Liberation of Rwanda.
Activities: The group seeks to
topple Rwanda's Tutsi-dominated government, reinstitute Hutu control, and,
possibly, complete the genocide. In 1996, a message--allegedly from the
ALIR--threatened to kill the US Ambassador to Rwanda and other US
citizens. In 1999, ALIR guerrillas critical of alleged US-UK support for
the Rwandan regime kidnapped and killed eight foreign tourists, including
two US citizens, in a game park on the Congo-Uganda border. In the
current Congolese war, the ALIR is allied with Kinshasa against the
Rwandan invaders.
Location/Area of Operation:
Mostly Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, but a few may operate
in Burundi.
Aum
Aum Shinrikyo
Aum Supreme Truth
Aleph
A cult established in 1987 by Shoko
Asahara, the Aum aimed to take over Japan, then the world. Approved as a
religious entity in 1989 under Japanese law, the group ran candidates in a
Japanese parliamentary election in 1990. Over time the cult began to
emphasize the imminence of the end of the world and stated that the United
States would initiate Armageddon by starting World War III with Japan.
The Japanese Government revoked its recognition of the Aum as a religious
organization in October 1995, but in 1997 a government panel decided not
to invoke the Anti-Subversive Law against the group, which would have
outlawed the cult. In 2000, Fumihiro Joyu took control of the Aum
following his three-year jail sentence for perjury. Joyu was previously
the group's spokesman and Russia Branch leader. Under Joyu's leadership
the Aum changed its name to Aleph and claims to have rejected the violent
and apocalyptic teachings of its founder.
External Aid:
None.
Location/Area of Operation: The Aum's
principal membership is located only in Japan, but a residual branch
comprising an unknown number of followers has surfaced in Russia.
Activities: On 20 March 1995, Aum members
simultaneously released the chemical nerve agent sarin on several Tokyo
subway trains, killing 12 persons and injuring up to 6,000. (Recent
studies put the number of persons who suffered actual physical injuries
closer to 1,300, with the rest suffering from some form of psychological
trauma.) The group was responsible for other mysterious chemical accidents
in Japan in 1994. Its efforts to conduct attacks using biological agents
have been unsuccessful. Japanese police arrested Asahara in May 1995, and
he remained on trial, facing 17 counts of murder at the end of 2000.
Since 1997 the cult continued to recruit new members, engage in commercial
enterprise, and acquire property, although the cult scaled back these
activities significantly in 2000 in response to public outcry. The cult
maintains an Internet homepage.
Strength: The Aum's current membership is
estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 persons. At the time of the Tokyo subway
attack, the group claimed to have 9,000 members in Japan and up to 40,000
worldwide.
ETA
Basque Fatherland and Liberty
Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna
External Aid: Has received
training at various times in the past in Libya, Lebanon, and Nicaragua.
Some ETA members allegedly have received sanctuary in Cuba while others
reside in South America. Also appears to have ties to the Irish
Republican Army through the two groups' legal political wings.
Founded in 1959 with the aim of
establishing an independent homeland based on Marxist principles in the
northern Spanish provinces of Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, Alava, and Navarra and
the southwestern French departments of Labourd, Basse-Navarra, and Soule.
Strength:
Unknown; may have hundreds of members, plus supporters.
Location/Area of Operation:
Operates primarily in the Basque autonomous regions of northern Spain and
southwestern France, but also has bombed Spanish and French interests
elsewhere.
Activities: Primarily bombings
and assassinations of Spanish Government officials, especially security
and military forces, politicians, and judicial figures. ETA finances its
activities through kidnappings, robberies, and extortion. The group has
killed more than 800 persons since it began lethal attacks in the early
1960s. In November 1999, ETA broke its 'unilateral and indefinite'
cease-fire and began an assassination and bombing campaign that killed 23
individuals and wounded scores more by the end of 2000.
Bavarian Liberation Army
The Leader of the KachAndKahaneChai.
Breton Revolutionary Army
Carlos Casta�o
The Leader of the UnitedSelfDefenseForcesGroupOfColombia.
The Leader of the RevolutionaryUnitedFront.
Chechen Rebel Resistence
Middle Core Faction
Nucleus
Chukaku-Ha
Continuity Irish Republican Army
Continuity Army Council
CIRA
External Aid: Suspected of
receiving funds and arms from sympathizers in the United States. May have
acquired arms and materiel from the Balkans in cooperation with the Real
IRA.
Radical terrorist splinter
group formed in 1994 as the clandestine armed wing of Republican Sinn Fein
(RSF), a political organization dedicated to the reunification of Ireland
and to forcing British troops from Northern Ireland. RSF formed after the
Irish Republican Army announced a cease-fire in September 1994.
Location/Area of Operation:
Northern Ireland, Irish Republic.
Strength:
Fewer than 50 hard-core activists.
Activities: Bombings,
assassinations, extortion, and robberies. Targets include British
military and Northern Ireland security targets and Northern Ireland
Loyalist paramilitary groups. Also has launched bomb attacks against
civilian targets in Northern Ireland. Does not have an established
presence or capability to launch attacks on the UK mainland.
DFLP
Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Djibouti Youth Movement
Dukhtaran-E-Millat
EPL
Ejercito Popular de Liberation
Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
FMLN
The Leader of the HarakatUlMujahidin.
Fatah
Fatah Tanzim
First of October Antifascist Resistance Group
Grupo de Resistencia Anti-Fascista Premero de Octubre
GRAPO
External Aid:
None.
Activities: GRAPO
has killed more than 80 persons and injured more than 200. The group's
operations customarily have been designed to cause material damage and
gain publicity rather than inflict casualties, but the terrorists have
conducted lethal bombings and close-range assassinations. In November
2000, GRAPO operatives shot to death a Spanish policeman in reprisal for
the arrest that month in France of several group leaders, while in May,
GRAPO operatives murdered two guards during a botched robbery against an
armored security van.
Formed in 1975 as
the armed wing of the illegal Communist Party of Spain of the Franco era.
Advocating the overthrow of the Spanish Government and replacement with a
Marxist-Leninist regime, GRAPO is vehemently anti-US, calls for the
removal of all US military forces from Spanish territory, and has
conducted and attempted several attacks against US targets since 1977.
Strength: Unknown
but likely fewer than a dozen hard-core activists. Numerous GRAPO members
also currently are in Spanish prisons.
Location/Area of
Operation Spain.
Force 17
The Leader of the AumSupremeTruth.
The Leader of the JapaneseRedArmy.
Islamic Resistance Movement
HAMAS
Activities: HAMAS activists, especially those in the
Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, have conducted many attacks--including
large-scale suicide bombings--against Israeli civilian and military
targets. In the early 1990s, they also targeted suspected Palestinian
collaborators and Fatah rivals. Claimed several attacks during the unrest
in late 2000.
Location/Area of Operation: Primarily the occupied
territories, Israel. In August 1999, Jordanian authorities closed the
group's Political Bureau offices in Amman, arrested its leaders, and
prohibited the group from operating on Jordanian territory.
External Aid: Receives funding from Palestinian
expatriates, Iran, and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other
moderate Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activities take
place in Western Europe and North America.
Strength: Unknown number of hard-core members; tens
of thousands of supporters and sympathizers.
Formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the
Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various HAMAS elements have
used both political and violent means, including terrorism, to pursue the
goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel.
Loosely structured, with some elements working clandestinely and others
working openly through mosques and social service institutions to recruit
members, raise money, organize activities, and distribute propaganda.
HAMAS's strength is concentrated in the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the
West Bank. Also has engaged in peaceful political activity, such as
running candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections.
The Leader of the LashkarETayyiba.
Harakat ul-Mujahidin
HUM
Location/Area of Operation: Based in
Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, and several other towns in Pakistan and
Afghanistan, but members conduct insurgent and terrorist activities
primarily in Kashmir. The HUM trains its militants in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
External Aid: Collects donations from
Saudi Arabia and other Gulf and Islamic states and from Pakistanis and
Kashmiris. The sources and amount of HUM's military funding are unknown.
Strength: Has several thousand armed
supporters located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and India's southern Kashmir
and Doda regions. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris and also
include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. Uses light and heavy
machineguns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives, and rockets. HUM lost
some of its membership in defections to the JEM.
Activities: Has conducted a number of
operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Kashmir. Linked
to the Kashmiri militant group al-Faran that kidnapped five Western
tourists in Kashmir in July 1995; one was killed in August 1995 and the
other four reportedly were killed in December of the same year. The new
millennium brought significant developments for Pakistani militant groups,
particularly the HUM. Most of these sprang from the hijacking of an
Indian airliner on 24 December by militants believed to be associated with
the HUM. The hijackers negotiated the release of Masood Azhar, an
important leader in the former Harakat ul-Ansar imprisoned by the Indians
in 1994. Azhar did not, however, return to the HUM, choosing instead to
form the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM), a rival militant group expressing a more
radical line than the HUM.
Formerly known as the Harakat al-Ansar,
the HUM is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates
primarily in Kashmir. Long-time leader of the group, Fazlur Rehman
Khalil, in mid-February stepped down as HUM emir, turning the reins over
to the popular Kashmiri commander and his second-in-command, Farooq
Kashmiri. Khalil, who has been linked to Bin Ladin and signed his fatwa
in February 1998 calling for attacks on US and Western interests, assumed
the position of HUM Secretary General. Continued to operate terrorist
training camps in eastern Afghanistan.
Hizb-ul Mujehideen
Islamic Jihad
Revolutionary Justice Organization
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine
Organization of the Oppressed on Earth
Hizballah
Party of God
External Aid: Receives substantial amounts of
financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and
organizational aid from Iran and Syria.
Activities: Known or suspected to have been
involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide
truck bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in
October 1983 and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984.
Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of
US and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the
Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and is a suspect in the 1994 bombing
of the Israeli cultural center in Buenos Aires. In fall 2000, it captured
three Israeli soldiers in the Shabaa Farms and kidnapped an Israeli
noncombatant whom it may have lured to Lebanon under false pretenses.
Strength: Several thousand supporters and a few
hundred terrrorist operatives.
Location/Area of Operation: Operates in the Bekaa
Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. Has
established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and
Asia.
Radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated
to increasing its political power in Lebanon and opposing Israel and the
Middle East peace negotiations. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel.
Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran but may have conducted
operations that were not approved by Tehran.
International Justice Group
PIRA
Irish Republican Army
IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
Provos
External Aid: Has in the past received
aid from a variety of groups and countries and considerable training and
arms from Libya and the PLO. Is suspected of receiving funds, arms, and
other terrorist-related materiel from sympathizers in the United States.
Similarities in operations suggest links to the ETA.
Local/Area of Operation
Northern Ireland, Irish Republic, Great Britain, Europe.
Strength: Largely unchanged--several
hundred members, plus several thousand sympathizers--despite the defection
of some members to the dissident splinter groups.
Activities: Bombings, assassinations,
kidnappings, punishment beatings, extortion, smuggling, and robberies.
Targets have included senior British Government officials, British
military and police in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland Loyalist
paramilitary groups. Bombing campaigns have been conducted against train
and subway stations and shopping areas on mainland Britain, as well as
against British and Royal Ulster Constabulary targets in Northern Ireland,
and a British military facility on the European Continent. The IRA has
been observing a cease-fire since July 1997 and previously observed a
cease-fire from 1 September 1994 to February 1996.
Terrorist group formed in 1969 as
clandestine armed wing of Sinn Fein, a legal political movement dedicated
to removing British forces from Northern Ireland and unifying Ireland.
Has a Marxist orientation. Organized into small, tightly knit cells under
the leadership of the Army Council.
Islamic Movement for Change
IMU
Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
External Aid: Support from
other Islamic extremist groups in Central and South Asia. IMU leadership
broadcasts statements over Iranian radio.
Coalition of Islamic militants
from Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states opposed to Uzbekistani
President Islom Karimov's secular regime. Goal is the establishment of an
Islamic state in Uzbekistan. The group's propaganda also includes
anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric.
Location/Area of Operation:
Militants are based in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Area of operations
includes Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan.
Strength: Militants probably
number in the thousands.
Activities: Believed to be
responsible for five car bombs in Tashkent in February 1999. Took
hostages on several occasions in 1999 and 2000, including four US citizens
who were mountain climbing in August 2000, and four Japanese geologists
and eight Kyrgyzstani soldiers in August 1999.
Jaish-e-Mohammed
Army of Mohammed
JEM
The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) is an Islamist
group based in Pakistan that has rapidly expanded in size and capability
since Maulana Masood Azhar, a former ultrafundamentalist Harakat ul-Ansar
(HUA) leader, announced its formation in February. The group's aim is to
unite Kashmir with Pakistan. It is politically aligned with the radical,
pro-Taliban, political party, Jamiat-i Ulema-i Islam (JUI-F).
Activities: The JEM's leader, Masood Azhar,
was released from Indian imprisonment in December 1999 in exchange for 155
hijacked Indian Airlines hostages in Afghanistan. The 1994 HUA
kidnappings of US and British nationals in New Delhi and the July 1995
HUA/Al Faran kidnappings of Westerners in Kashmir were two of several
previous HUA efforts to free Azhar. Azhar organized large rallies and
recruitment drives across Pakistan throughout 2000. In July, a JEM
rocket-grenade attack failed to injure the Chief Minister at his office in
Srinagar, India, but wounded four other persons. In December, JEM
militants launched grenade attacks at a bus stop in Kupwara, India,
injuring 24 persons, and at a marketplace in Chadoura, India, injuring 16
persons. JEM militants also planted two bombs that killed 21 persons in
Qamarwari and Srinagar.
Location/Area of Operation: Based in
Peshawar and Muzaffarabad, but members conduct terrorist activities
primarily in Kashmir. The JEM maintains training camps in Afghanistan.
External Aid: Most of the JEM's cadre and
material resources have been drawn from the militant groups Harakat
ul-Jihad al-Islami (HUJI) and the Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM). The JEM has
close ties to Afghan Arabs and the Taliban. Usama Bin Ladin is suspected
of giving funding to the JEM.
Strength: Has several hundred armed
supporters located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and in India's southern
Kashmir and Doda regions. Following Maulana Masood Azhar's release from
detention in India, a reported three quarters of Harakat ul-Mujahedin
(HUM) members defected to the new organization, which has managed to
attract a large number of urban Kashmiri youth. Supporters are mostly
Pakistanis and Kashmiris and also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the
Afghan war. Uses light and heavy machineguns, assault rifles, mortars,
improvised explosive devices, and rocket grenades.
Jammu and Kashmir
JRA
Japanese Red Army
AIIB
Anti-Imperialist International Brigade
6
External Aid:
Unknown.
Activities: During the 1970s, the JRA
carried out a series of attacks around the world, including the massacre
in 1972 at Lod Airport in Israel, two Japanese airliner hijackings, and an
attempted takeover of the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. In April 1988, JRA
operative Yu Kikumura was arrested with explosives on the New Jersey
Turnpike, apparently planning an attack to coincide with the bombing of a
USO club in Naples, a suspected JRA operation that killed five, including
a US servicewoman. He was convicted of the charges and is serving a
lengthy prison sentence in the United States. Tsutomu Shirosaki, captured
in 1996, is also jailed in the United States. In 2000, Lebanon deported
to Japan four members it arrested in 1997, but granted a fifth operative,
Kozo Okamoto, political asylum. Longtime leader Shigenobu was arrested in
November 2000 and faces charges of terrorism and passport fraud.
An international terrorist group formed
around 1970 after breaking away from Japanese Communist League-Red Army
Faction. The JRA was led by Fusako Shigenobu until her arrest in Japan in
November 2000. The JRA's historical goal has been to overthrow the
Japanese Government and monarchy and to help foment world revolution.
After her arrest Shigenobu announced she intended to pursue her goals
using a legitimate political party rather than revolutionary violence.
May control or at least have ties to Anti-Imperialist International
Brigade (AIIB); also may have links to Antiwar Democratic Front--an overt
leftist political organization--inside Japan. Details released following
Shigenobu's arrest indicate that the JRA was organizing cells in Asian
cities, such as Manila and Singapore. Has history of close relations with
Palestinian terrorist groups--based and operating outside Japan--since its
inception, primarily through Shigenobu. The current status of these
connections is unknown.
Location/Area of Operation:s Location
unknown, but possibly traveling in Asia or Syrian-controlled areas of
Lebanon.
Strength:
About six hard-core members; undetermined number of sympathizers.
Kach and Kahane Chai
External Aid:
Receives support from sympathizers in the United States and Europe.
Strength:
Unknown.
Activities: Organize protests against the
Israeli Government. Harass and threaten Palestinians in Hebron and the
West Bank. Have threatened to attack Arabs, Palestinians, and Israeli
Government officials. Have vowed revenge for the death of Binyamin Kahane
and his wife.
Location/Area of Operation:
Israel and West Bank settlements, particularly Qiryat Arba' in Hebron.
Stated goal is to restore the biblical
state of Israel. Kach (founded by radical Israeli-American rabbi Meir
Kahane) and its offshoot Kahane Chai, which means 'Kahane Lives' (founded
by Meir Kahane's son Binyamin following his father's assassination in the
United States), were declared to be terrorist organizations in March 1994
by the Israeli Cabinet under the 1948 Terrorism Law. This followed the
groups' statements in support of Dr. Baruch Goldstein's attack in
February 1994 on the al-Ibrahimi Mosque--Goldstein was affiliated with
Kach--and their verbal attacks on the Israeli Government. Palestinian
gunmen killed Binyamin Kahane and his wife in a drive-by shooting on 31
December in the West Bank.
The Leader of the AbuSayyafGroup.
Party of Democratic Kampuchea
Khmer Rouge
PKK
Kurdistan Workers' Party
Activities: Primary targets have been
Turkish Government security forces in Turkey. Conducted attacks on
Turkish diplomatic and commercial facilities in dozens of West European
cities in 1993 and again in spring 1995. In an attempt to damage Turkey's
tourist industry, the PKK bombed tourist sites and hotels and kidnapped
foreign tourists in the early-to-mid-1990s.
External Aid: Has received safehaven
and modest aid from Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The Syrian Government expelled
PKK leader Ocalan and known elements of the group from its territory in
October 1998.
Location/Area of Operation:
Operates in Turkey, Europe, and the Middle East.
Strength: Approximately 4,000 to
5,000, most of whom currently are located in northern Iraq. Has thousands
of sympathizers in Turkey and Europe.
Founded in 1974 as a
Marxist-Leninist insurgent group primarily composed of Turkish Kurds. The
group's goal has been to establish an independent Kurdish state in
southeastern Turkey, where the population is predominantly Kurdish. In
the early 1990s, the PKK moved beyond rural-based insurgent activities to
include urban terrorism. Turkish authorities captured Chairman Abdullah
Ocalan in Kenya in early 1999; the Turkish State Security Court
subsequently sentenced him to death. In August 1999, Ocalan announced a
'peace initiative,' ordering members to refrain from violence and withdraw
from Turkey and requesting dialogue with Ankara on Kurdish issues. At a
PKK Congress in January 2000, members supported Ocalan's initiative and
claimed the group now would use only political means to achieve its new
goal, improved rights for Kurds in Turkey.
Lashkar-e-Tayyiba
Army of the Righteous
LT
Location/Area of Operation: Based in
Muridke (near Lahore) and Muzaffarabad. The LT trains its militants in
mobile training camps across Pakistan-administered Kashmir and
Afghanistan.
Activities: Has conducted a number of
operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Kashmir since
1993. The LT is suspected of eight separate attacks in August that killed
nearly 100, mostly Hindu Indians. LT militants are suspected of
kidnapping six persons in Akhala, India, in November 2000 and killing five
of them. The group also operates a chain of religious schools in the
Punjab.
The LT is the armed wing of the
Pakistan-based religious organization, Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI)--a
Sunni anti-US missionary organization formed in 1989. One of the three
largest and best-trained groups fighting in Kashmir against India, it is
not connected to a political party. The LT leader is MDI chief, Professor
Hafiz Mohammed Saeed.
External Aid: Collects donations from the
Pakistani community in the Persian Gulf and United Kingdom, Islamic NGOs,
and Pakistani and Kashmiri businessmen. The amount of LT funding is
unknown. The LT maintains ties to religious/military groups around the
world, ranging from the Philippines to the Middle East and Chechnya
through the MDI fraternal network.
Strength: Has several hundred members in
Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and in India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions.
Almost all LT cadres are foreigners--mostly Pakistanis from seminaries
across the country and Afghan veterans of the Afghan wars. Uses assault
rifles, light and heavy machineguns, mortars, explosives, and rocket
propelled grenades.
Ellalan Force
World Tamil Movement
World Tamil Association
WTA
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils
WTM
Sangilian Force
LTTE
FACT
External Aid: The LTTE's overt
organizations support Tamil separatism by lobbying foreign governments and
the United Nations. The LTTE also uses its international contacts to
procure weapons, communications, and any other equipment and supplies it
needs. The LTTE exploits large Tamil communities in North America,
Europe, and Asia to obtain funds and supplies for its fighters in Sri
Lanka. Information obtained since the mid-1980s indicates that some Tamil
communities in Europe are also involved in narcotics smuggling. Tamils
historically have served as drug couriers moving narcotics into Europe.
Location/Area of Operation:s
The Tigers control most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri
Lanka but have conducted operations throughout the island. Headquartered
in northern Sri Lanka, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has established
an extensive network of checkpoints and informants to keep track of any
outsiders who enter the group's area of control.
Activities: The Tigers have
integrated a battlefield insurgent strategy with a terrorist program that
targets not only key personnel in the countryside but also senior Sri
Lankan political and military leaders in Colombo and other urban centers.
The Tigers are most notorious for their cadre of suicide bombers, the
Black Tigers. Political assassinations and bombings are commonplace. The
LTTE has refrained from targeting foreign diplomatic and commercial
establishments.
Strength: Exact strength is
unknown, but the LTTE is estimated to have 8,000 to 10,000 armed
combatants in Sri Lanka, with a core of trained fighters of approximately
3,000 to 6,000. The LTTE also has a significant overseas support
structure for fundraising, weapons procurement, and propaganda activities.
Founded in 1976, the LTTE is
the most powerful Tamil group in Sri Lanka and uses overt and illegal
methods to raise funds, acquire weapons, and publicize its cause of
establishing an independent Tamil state. The LTTE began its armed
conflict with the Sri Lankan Government in 1983 and relies on a guerrilla
strategy that includes the use of terrorist tactics.
Loyalist Volunteer Force
LVF
Location/Area of Operation:
Northern Ireland, Ireland.
Terrorist group formed in 1996 as a
faction of the mainstream loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) but did
not emerge publicly until February 1997. Composed largely of UVF
hardliners who have sought to prevent a political settlement with Irish
nationalists in Northern Ireland by attacking Catholic politicians,
civilians, and Protestant politicians who endorse the Northern Ireland
peace process. Has been observing a cease-fire since 15 May 1998. The
LVF decommissioned a small but significant amount of weapons in December
1998, but it has not repeated this gesture and in fact threatened in 2000
to resume killing Catholics.
150
Activities: Bombings, kidnappings,
and close-quarter shooting attacks. LVF bombs often have contained
Powergel commercial explosives, typical of many loyalist groups. LVF
attacks have been particularly vicious: the group has murdered numerous
Catholic civilians with no political or terrorist affiliations, including
an 18-year-old Catholic girl in July 1997 because she had a Protestant
boyfriend. The terrorists also have conducted successful attacks against
Irish targets in Irish border towns. In 2000, the LVF also engaged in a
brief but violent feud with other loyalists in which several individuals
were killed.
External Aid:
None.
Strength:
Approximately 150 activists.
The Leader of the RevolutionaryArmedForcesOfColombia.
Manuel Rodriquez Patriotic Front
FPMR
The Leader of the JaishEMohammed.
The Leader of the RealIRA.
FPM
Moranzanist Patriotic Front
Muhammad Abbas
Abu Abbas
The Leader of the PalestineLiberationFront.
NCR
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization
Muslim Iranian Student's Society
NLA
National Council of Resistance
The National Liberation Army of Iran
People's Mujahidin of Iran
MEK
PMOI
MKO
Formed in the 1960s by the
college-educated children of Iranian merchants, the MEK sought to counter
what it perceived as excessive Western influence in the Shah's regime.
Following a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam, has developed into
the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group. Its history is
studded with anti-Western activity, and, most recently, attacks on the
interests of the clerical regime in Iran and abroad.
Strength: Several thousand
fighters based in Iraq with an extensive overseas support structure. Most
of the fighters are organized in the MEK's National Liberation Army (NLA).
Activities: Worldwide campaign
against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and occasionally uses
terrorist violence. During the 1970s the MEK staged terrorist attacks
inside Iran and killed several US military personnel and civilians working
on defense projects in Tehran. Supported the takeover in 1979 of the US
Embassy in Tehran. In April 1992 conducted attacks on Iranian embassies
in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount
large-scale operations overseas. The normal pace of anti-Iranian
operations increased during the 'Operation Great Bahman' in February 2000,
when the group claimed it launched a dozen attacks against Iran. During
the remainder of the year, the MEK regularly claimed that its members were
involved in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military, law
enforcement units, and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border.
The MEK also claimed six mortar attacks on civilian government and
military buildings in Tehran.
External Aid: Beyond support
from Iraq, the MEK uses front organizations to solicit contributions from
expatriate Iranian communities.
Location/Area of Operation: In
the 1980s the MEK's leaders were forced by Iranian security forces to flee
to France. Most resettled in Iraq by 1987. In the mid-1980s the group
did not mount terrorist operations in Iran at a level similar to its
activities in the 1970s. In the 1990s, however, the MEK claimed credit
for an increasing number of operations in Iran.
ELN
National Liberation Army
Location/Area of Operation: Mostly
in rural and mountainous areas of north, northeast, and southwest Colombia
and Venezuela border regions.
Strength: Approximately 3,000 to
6,000 armed combatants and an unknown number of active supporters.
External Aid: Cuba provides some
medical care and political consultation.
Marxist insurgent group formed in
1965 by urban intellectuals inspired by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
Began a dialogue with Colombian officials in 1999 following a campaign of
mass kidnappings--each involving at least one US citizen--to demonstrate
its strength and continuing viability and to force the Pastrana
administration to negotiate. Bogota and the ELN spent most of 2000
discussing where to establish an ELN safehaven in which to hold peace
talks. A proposed location in north central Colombia faces stiff local
and paramilitary opposition.
Activities: Kidnapping, hijacking,
bombing, extortion, and guerrilla war. Modest conventional military
capability. Annually conducts hundreds of kidnappings for ransom, often
targeting foreign employees of large corporations, especially in the
petroleum industry. Frequently assaults energy infrastructure and has
inflicted major damage on pipelines and the electric distribution network.
National Liberation Front of Corsica
FLNC
Unita
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola
CNPZ
Nestor Paz Zamora Commission
New People's Army
NPA
External Aid:
Unknown.
The military wing of the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP), the NPA is a Maoist group formed in March 1969 with
the aim of overthrowing the government through protracted guerrilla
warfare. Although primarily a rural-based guerrilla group, the NPA has an
active urban infrastructure to conduct terrorism and uses city-based
assassination squads called sparrow units. Derives most of its funding
from contributions of supporters and so-called revolutionary taxes
extorted from local businesses.
Activities: The NPA primarily targets
Philippine security forces, corrupt politicians, and drug traffickers.
Opposes any US military presence in the Philippines and attacked US
military interests before the US base closures in 1992. Press reports in
1999 indicated that the NPA would target US troops participating in joint
military exercises under the Visiting Forces Agreement and US Embassy
personnel.
Location/Area of Operation:s Operates in
rural Luzon, Visayas, and parts of Mindanao. Has cells in Manila and
other metropolitan centers.
Strength:
Estimated between 6,000 and 8,000.
Orange Volunteers
OV
External Aid:
None.
Terrorist group comprised largely of
disgruntled loyalist hardliners who split from groups observing the
cease-fire. OV seeks to prevent a political settlement with Irish
nationalists by attacking Catholic civilian interests in Northern Ireland.
Strength: Up to 20 hard-core members, some
of whom are experienced in terrorist tactics and bombmaking.
Activities: The OV declared a cease-fire
in September 2000, but the group maintains ability to conduct bombings,
arson, beatings, and possibly robberies.
20
Location/Area of Operation:s
Northern Ireland.
PIJ
Palestine Islamic Jihad
Location/Area of Operation: Primarily
Israel and the occupied territories and other parts of the Middle East,
including Jordan and Lebanon. Headquartered in Syria.
Strength:
Unknown.
Activities: Conducted at least three
attacks against Israeli interests in late 2000, including one to
commemorate the anniversary of former PIJ leader Fathi Shaqaqi's murder in
Malta on 26 October 1995. Conducted suicide bombings against Israeli
targets in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel.
External Aid: Receives financial
assistance from Iran and limited logistic assistance from Syria.
Originated among militant
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the 1970s. Committed to the
creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel
through holy war. Because of its strong support for Israel, the United
States has been identified as an enemy of the PIJ, but the group has not
specifically conducted attacks against US interests in the past. In July
2000, however, publicly threatened to attack US interests if the US
Embassy is moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Also opposes moderate Arab
governments that it believes have been tainted by Western secularism.
PLF
Palestine Liberation Front
Activities: The Abu Abbas-led
faction is known for aerial attacks against Israel. Abbas's group also
was responsible for the attack in 1985 on the cruise ship Achille Lauro
and the murder of US citizen Leon Klinghoffer. A warrant for Abu Abbas's
arrest is outstanding in Italy.
Location/Area of Operation: PLO
faction based in Tunisia until Achille Lauro attack. Now based in Iraq.
Strength:
Unknown.
Broke away from the PFLP-GC in
mid-1970s. Later split again into pro-PLO, pro-Syrian, and pro-Libyan
factions. Pro-PLO faction led by Muhammad Abbas (Abu Abbas), who became
member of PLO Executive Committee in 1984 but left it in 1991.
External Aid:
Receives support mainly from Iraq. Has received support from Libya in the past.
People Against Gangsterism and Drugs
PAGAD
Location/Area of
Operation Operates mainly in the Cape Town area, South Africa's foremost
tourist venue.
PAGAD was formed in 1996
as a community anticrime group fighting drugs and violence in the Cape
Flats section of Cape Town but by early 1998 had also become
antigovernment and anti-Western. PAGAD and its Islamic ally Qibla view
the South African Government as a threat to Islamic values and
consequently promote greater political voice for South African Muslims.
The group is led by Abdus Salaam Ebrahim. PAGAD's G-Force (Gun Force)
operates in small cells and is believed responsible for carrying out acts
of terrorism. PAGAD uses several front names, including Muslims Against
Global Oppression (MAGO) and Muslims Against Illegitimate Leaders (MAIL),
when launching anti-Western protests and campaigns.
Strength: Estimated at
several hundred members. PAGAD's G-Force probably contains fewer than 50
members.
External Aid:
Probably has ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East.
Activities: PAGAD is
suspected of conducting recurring bouts of urban terrorism--particularly
bomb sprees--in Cape Town since 1998, including nine bombings in 2000.
Bombing targets have included South African authorities, moderate Muslims,
synagogues, gay nightclubs, tourist attractions, and Western-associated
restaurants. PAGAD is believed to have masterminded the bombing on 25
August 1998 of the Cape Town Planet Hollywood.
People's Liberation Army
PFLP
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Strength:
Some 800.
Location/Area of
Operation Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and the occupied territories.
800
External Aid:
Receives safehaven and some logistic assistance from Syria.
Marxist-Leninist
group founded in 1967 by George Habash as a member of the PLO. Joined the
Alliance of Palestinian Forces (APF) to oppose the Declaration of
Principles signed in 1993 and suspended participation in the PLO. Broke
away from the APF, along with the DFLP, in 1996 over ideological
differences. Took part in meetings with Arafat's Fatah party and PLO
representatives in 1999 to discuss national unity and the reinvigoration
of the PLO but continues to oppose current negotiations with Israel.
Activities:
Committed numerous international terrorist attacks during the 1970s.
Since 1978 has conducted attacks against Israeli or moderate Arab targets,
including killing a settler and her son in December 1996.
PFLP-GC
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command
Split from the PFLP in 1968, claiming it wanted to focus more on fighting
and less on politics. Violently opposed to Arafat's PLO. Led by Ahmad
Jabril, a former captain in the Syrian Army. Closely tied to both Syria
and Iran.
Location/Area of Operation:
Headquartered in Damascus with bases in Lebanon.
External Aid:
Receives logistic and military support from Syria and financial support from Iran.
Strength:
Several hundred.
Activities: Carried out dozens of attacks in Europe and the Middle East
during 1970s-80s. Known for cross-border terrorist attacks into Israel
using unusual means, such as hot-air balloons and motorized hang gliders.
Primary focus now on guerrilla operations in southern Lebanon, small-scale
attacks in Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
Real IRA
True IRA
RIRA
Activities: Bombings, assassinations, smuggling,
extortion, and robberies. Many Real IRA members are former IRA who
opposed the IRA's cease-fire and bring to RIRA a wealth of experience in
terrorist tactics and bombmaking. Targets include British military and
police in Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland civilian targets. Has
attempted several unsuccessful bomb attacks on the UK mainland. Claimed
responsibility for the car bomb attack in Omagh, Northern Ireland, on 15
August 1998 that killed 29 and injured 220 persons. The group declared a
cease-fire following Omagh but in early 2000 resumed attacks in Northern
Ireland and on the UK mainland. These include a bombing of Hammersmith
Bridge and a rocket attack against MI-6 Headquarters in London.
Location/Area of Operation:
Northern Ireland, Irish Republic, Great Britain.
Formed in February-March 1998 as clandestine armed
wing of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, a 'political pressure group'
dedicated to removing British forces from Northern Ireland and unifying
Ireland. The 32-County Sovereignty Movement opposed Sinn Fein's adoption
in September 1997 of the Mitchell principles of democracy and nonviolence
and opposed the December 1999 amendment of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish
Constitution, which lay claim to Northern Ireland. Former IRA
'quartermaster general' Mickey McKevitt leads the group; Bernadette
Sands-McKevitt, his common-law wife, is the vice-chair of the 32-County
Sovereignty Movement.
Strength: 150 to 200 activists plus possible
limited support from IRA hardliners dissatisfied with the IRA cease-fire
and other republican sympathizers.
External Aid: Suspected of receiving funds from
sympathizers in the United States. RIRA also is thought to have purchased
sophisticated weapons from the Balkans, according to press reports.
Recontra 380
Red Army Faction
RAF
Red Brigades
BR
Red Hand Defenders
RHD
Location/Area of Operation:
Northern Ireland.
External Aid:
None.
Activities: RHD was quiet in 2000, following a
damaging security crackdown in late 1999. In recent years, however, the
group has carried out numerous pipe bombings and arson attacks against
'soft' civilian targets, such as homes, churches, and private businesses,
to cause outrage in the republican community and to provoke IRA
retaliation. RHD claimed responsibility for the car-bombing murder on 15
March 1999 of Rosemary Nelson, a prominent Catholic nationalist lawyer and
human rights campaigner in Northern Ireland.
Extremist terrorist group composed largely of
Protestant hardliners from loyalist groups observing a cease-fire. RHD
seeks to prevent a political settlement with Irish nationalists by
attacking Catholic civilian interests in Northern Ireland.
Strength: Up to 20 members, some of whom have
considerable experience in terrorist tactics and bomb-making.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
FARC
Activities: Bombings,
murder, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and
conventional military action against Colombian political, military, and
economic targets. In March 1999 the FARC executed three US Indian rights
activists on Venezuelan territory after it kidnapped them in Colombia.
Foreign citizens often are targets of FARC kidnapping for ransom. Has
well-documented ties to narcotics traffickers, principally through the
provision of armed protection.
Location/Area of
Operation Colombia with some activities--extortion, kidnapping, logistics,
and R and R--in Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador.
Strength: Approximately
9,000 to 12,000 armed combatants and an unknown number of supporters,
mostly in rural areas.
Established in 1964 as
the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, the FARC is Colombia's
oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist insurgency. The
FARC is governed by a secretariat, led by septuagenarian Manuel Marulanda,
a.k.a. 'Tirofijo,' and six others, including senior military commander
Jorge Briceno, a.k.a. 'Mono Jojoy.' Organized along military lines and
includes several urban fronts. In 2000, the group continued a slow-moving
peace negotiation process with the Pastrana Administration, which has
gained the group several concessions, including a demilitarized zone used
as a venue for negotiations.
External Aid: Cuba
provides some medical care and political consultation.
Revolutionary Organization 17 November
17 November
Strength:
Unknown, but presumed to be small.
Location/Area of Operation:
Athens, Greece.
Radical leftist group
established in 1975 and named for the student uprising in Greece in
November 1973 that protested the military regime. Anti-Greek
establishment, anti-US, anti-Turkey, anti-NATO, and committed to the
ouster of US bases, removal of Turkish military presence from Cyprus, and
severing of Greece's ties to NATO and the European Union (EU).
Activities: Initial
attacks were assassinations of senior US officials and Greek public
figures. Added bombings in 1980s. Since 1990 has expanded targets to
include EU facilities and foreign firms investing in Greece and has added
improvised rocket attacks to its methods. Most recent attack claimed was
the murder in June 2000 of British Defense Attache Stephen Saunders.
Devrimci Sol
DHKP/C
DHCP/F
Revolutionary Left
Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front
Dev Sol
Strength:
Unknown.
Location/Area of
Operation Conducts attacks in Turkey, primarily in Istanbul, Ankara,
Izmir, and Adana. Raises funds in Western Europe.
Originally formed in
1978 as Devrimci Sol, or Dev Sol, a splinter faction of the Turkish
People's Liberation Party/Front. Renamed in 1994 after factional
infighting, it espouses a Marxist ideology and is virulently anti-US and
anti-NATO. Finances its activities chiefly through armed robberies and
extortion.
External Aid:
Unknown.
Activities: Since the
late 1980s has concentrated attacks against current and retired Turkish
security and military officials. Began a new campaign against foreign
interests in 1990. Assassinated two US military contractors and wounded a
US Air Force officer to protest the Gulf war. Launched rockets at US
Consulate in Istanbul in 1992. Assassinated prominent Turkish businessman
and two others in early 1996, its first significant terrorist act as
DHKP/C. Turkish authorities thwarted DHKP/C attempt in June 1999 to fire
light antitank weapon at US Consulate in Istanbul. Series of safehouse
raids, arrests by Turkish police over last two years has weakened group
significantly. Turkish security forces stormed prison wards controlled by
the DHKP/C in December 2000, transferring militants to cell-type
penitentiaries and further undermining DHKP/C cohesion.
Revolutionary People's Struggle
ELA
Extreme leftist group that
developed from opposition to the military junta that ruled Greece from
1967 to 1974. Formed in 1971, ELA is a self-described revolutionary,
anti-capitalist, and anti-imperialist group that has declared its
opposition to 'imperialist domination, exploitation, and oppression.'
Strongly anti-US and seeks the removal of US military forces from Greece.
External Aid: Received weapons
and other assistance from international terrorist Carlos during 1980s.
Currently no known foreign sponsors.
Strength:
Unknown.
Activities: Since 1974 has
conducted bombings against Greek Government and economic targets as well
as US military and business facilities. In 1986 stepped up attacks on
Greek Government and commercial interests. Raid on a safehouse in 1990
revealed a weapons cache and direct contacts with other Greek terrorist
groups, including 1 May and Revolutionary Solidarity. In 1991, ELA and 1
May claimed joint responsibility for more than 20 bombings. Greek police
believe they have established links between ELA and Revolutionary
Organization 17 November. Although ELA has not claimed an attack since
January 1995, other groups have emerged with similar modus operandi. Of
these, Revolutionary Nuclei (a.k.a. Revolutionary Cells) appears most
likely to be the successor group to ELA.
Location/Area of Operation:
Greece.
Revolutionary United Front
RUF
Activities: The RUF uses
guerrilla, criminal, and terror tactics, such as murder, torture, and
mutilation, to fight the government, intimidate civilians, and keep UN
peacekeeping units in check. In 2000 they held hundreds of UN
peacekeepers hostage until their release was negotiated, in part, by the
RUF's chief sponsor Liberian President Charles Taylor. The group also has
been accused of attacks in Guinea at the behest of President Taylor.
The RUF is a loosely organized
group--but an effective guerrilla force because of its flexibility and
brutal discipline--seeking to topple the current government of Sierra
Leone and to retain control of the lucrative diamond-producing regions of
the country. The group funds itself largely through the extraction and
sale of diamonds obtained in areas of Sierra Leone that it controls.
Strength: Estimated at several
thousand fighters and possibly a similar number of supporters and
sympathizers.
External Aid: A UN experts panel
report on Sierra Leone said President Charles Taylor of Liberia provides
support and leadership to the RUF. The UN has identified Libya, Gambia,
and Burkina Faso as conduits for weapons and other materiel for the RUF.
Location/Area of Operation:
Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea.
The Leader of the AbuNidalOrganization.
Shining Path
SL
Sendero Luminoso
Location/Area of Operation: Peru, with most
activity in rural areas.
In 2000, government authorities continued
to arrest and prosecute active SL members, including, in April, commander
Jose Arcela Chiroque, a.k.a. Ormeno. Counterterrorist operations
targeted pockets of terrorist activity in the Upper Huallaga River Valley
and the Apurimac/Ene River Valley, where SL columns continued to conduct
periodic attacks.
Activities: Conducted indiscriminate
bombing campaigns and selective assassinations. Detonated explosives at
diplomatic missions of several countries in Peru in 1990, including an
attempt to car-bomb the US Embassy in December. SL continued in 2000 to
clash with Peruvian authorities and military units in the countryside and
conducted periodic raids on villages. Despite numerous threats, the
remaining active SL guerrillas were unable to cause any significant
disruption to the Peruvian national elections held on 9 April.
Strength: Membership is unknown but
estimated to be 100 to 200 armed militants. SL's strength has been vastly
diminished by arrests and desertions.
External Aid:
None.
Former university professor Abimael Guzman
formed Sendero Luminoso in the late 1960s, and his teachings created the
foundation of SL's militant Maoist doctrine. In the 1980s, SL became one
of the most ruthless terrorist groups in the Western
Hemisphere-approximately 30,000 persons have died since Shining Path took
up arms in 1980. Its stated goal is to destroy existing Peruvian
institutions and replace them with a communist peasant revolutionary
regime. It also opposes any influence by foreign governments, as well as
by other Latin American guerrilla groups, especially the Tupac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
The spiritual Leader of the AlGamaaAlIslamiyya.
Sikh Terrorism
Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan
SSP
The Islamic Great Eastern Raiders/Front
MRTA
Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
Strength: Believed to be no
more than 100 members, consisting largely of young fighters who lack
leadership skills and experience.
Traditional
Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983 from remnants of
the Movement of the Revolutionary Left, a Peruvian insurgent group active
in the 1960s. Aims to establish a Marxist regime and to rid Peru of all
imperialist elements (primarily US and Japanese influence). Peru's
counterterrorist program has diminished the group's ability to carry out
terrorist attacks, and the MRTA has suffered from infighting, the
imprisonment or deaths of senior leaders, and loss of leftist support.
Several MRTA members also remain imprisoned in Bolivia.
Activities: Previously
conducted bombings, kidnappings, ambushes, and assassinations, but recent
activity has fallen drastically. In December 1996, 14 MRTA members
occupied the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima and held 72 hostages
for more than four months. Peruvian forces stormed the residence in April
1997, rescuing all but one of the remaining hostages and killing all 14
group members, including the remaining leaders. The group has not
conducted a significant terrorist operation since and appears more focused
on obtaining the release of imprisoned MRTA members.
Location/Area of Operation:
Peru with supporters throughout Latin America and Western Europe.
External Aid:
None.
EGTK
Tupac Katari Guerilla Army
TIKKO
Turkish Workers' and Peasants' Liberation Army
The branch of the US Government that
handles relations with foreign governments and entities. It is the chief
diplomatic instrument of US foreign policy. It controls US embassies and
consuls.
UVF
Ulster Volunteer Force
United Liberation Front of Assam
UVF
Mapu Lautaro Group
United Popular Action Movement
United Self-Defense Forces/Group of Colombia
Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia
AUC
External Aid:
None.
Activities: AUC
operations vary from assassinating suspected insurgent supporters to
engaging guerrilla combat units. Colombian National Police reported the
AUC conducted 804 assassinations, 203 kidnappings, and 75 massacres with
507 victims during the first 10 months of 2000. The AUC claims the
victims were guerrillas or sympathizers. Combat tactics consist of
conventional and guerilla operations against main force insurgent units.
AUC clashes with military and police units are increasing, although the
group has traditionally avoided government security forces. The
paramilitaries have not taken action against US personnel.
8000
Strength: In early
2001, the government estimated there were 8,000 paramilitary fighters,
including former military and insurgent personnel.
Location/Areas of
Operation AUC forces are strongest in the north and northwest: Antioquia,
Cordoba, Sucre, Bolivar, Atlantico, and Magdalena Departments. Since
1999, the group demonstrated a growing presence in other northeastern and
southwestern departments and a limited presence in the Amazon plains.
Clashes between the AUC and the FARC insurgents in Putumayo in 2000
demonstrated the range of the AUC to contest insurgents throughout
Colombia.
The AUC--commonly
referred to as autodefensas or paramilitaries--is an umbrella organization
formed in April 1997 to consolidate most local and regional paramilitary
groups each with the mission to protect economic interests and combat
insurgents locally. The AUC--supported by economic elites, drug
traffickers, and local communities lacking effective government
security--claims its primary objective is to protect its sponsors from
insurgents. The AUC now asserts itself as a regional and national
counterinsurgent force. It is adequately equipped and armed and
reportedly pays its members a monthly salary. AUC leader Carlos Casta�o
in 2000 claimed 70 percent of the AUC's operational costs were financed
with drug-related earnings, the rest from 'donations' from its sponsors.
The Leader of the AlQaida.
The Leader of the LiberationTigersOfTamilEelam.
The president of the Palestinian Authority.
Also leader of Fatah and the PalestineLiberationOrganization prior to
assuming political responsibilities as his primary activity.
A relation between an instance of an Organization
and the approximate number of members in the Organization.