Description
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 in September 1986, the Pan Am Flight 73 hijacking in Karachi in September 1986, and the City of Poros day-excursion ship attack in July 1988 in Greece. 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 it has been linked to the killing of the PLO representative there. There have been no attacks against Western targets since the late 1980s.

Strength
Several hundred militia in Lebanon, and overseas support structure.

Location/Area of Operation
Currently headquartered in Libya with a presence in Lebanon in the Al Biqa' (Bekaa Valley) and also several Palestinian refugee camps in coastal areas of Lebanon. Also has a presence in Sudan. Has demonstrated ability to operate over wide area, including the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

External Aid
Has received considerable support, including safe haven, training, logistic assistance, and financial aid from Iraq and Syria (until 1987); continues to receive aid from Libya, in addition to close support for selected operations.

BASQUE FATHERLAND AND LIBERTY (ETA)

Description
Founded in 1959 with the aim of creating an independent homeland in Spain's Basque region. Has muted commitment to Marxism.

Activities
Chiefly bombings and assassinations of Spanish Government officials, especially security forces. In response to French operations against the group, ETA also has targeted French interests. Finances its activities through kidnappings, robberies, and extortion. In 1995, Spanish and French authorities foiled an ETA plot to kill King Juan Carlos in Majorca.

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.

External Aid
Has received training at various times in Libya, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. Also appears to have close ties to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA).

Description
HAMAS was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various elements of HAMAS have used political and violent means, including terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel. HAMAS is loosely structured, with some elements working openly through mosques and social service institutions to recruit members, raise money, organize activities, and distribute propaganda. Militant elements of HAMAS, operating clandestinely, have advocated and used violence to advance their goals. HAMAS's strength is concentrated in the Gaza Strip and a few areas of the West Bank. It also has engaged in peaceful political activity, such as running candidates in West Bank Chamber of Commerce elections. Activities
HAMAS activists, especially those in the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Forces, have conducted many attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets, suspected Palestinian collaborators, and Fatah rivals.

Strength
Unknown number of hardcore members; tens of thousands of supporters and sympathizers.

Location/Area of Operation
Primarily the occupied territories, Israel, and Jordan.

External Aid
Receives funding from Palestinian expatriates, Iran, and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other moderate Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activity take place in Western Europe and North America.

Description
Radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated to the creation of an Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from the area. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. Closely allied with, and often directed by Iran, but may have conducted rogue operations that were not approved by Tehran.

Activities
Known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-U.S. terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of U.S. and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992.

Strength
Several thousand members. Location/Area of Operation
Operates in the Al Biqa' (Bekaa Valley), the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and elsewhere.

External Aid
Receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran.

Description
Marxist-Leninist insurgent group composed of Turkish Kurds established in 1974. In recent years has moved beyond rural-based insurgent activities to include urban terrorism. Seeks to set up an independent Marxist state in southeastern Turkey, where there is a predominantly Kurdish population.

Activities
Primary targets are Turkish government forces and civilians in eastern Turkey, but becoming increasingly active in Western Europe against Turkish targets. 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 has bombed tourist sites and hotels and kidnapped foreign tourists.

Strength
Approximately 10,000 to 15,000 full-time guerrillas, 5,000 to 6,000 of whom are in Turkey; 60,000 to 75,000 part-time guerrillas; and hundreds of thousands of sympathizers in Turkey and Europe.

Location/Area of Operation
Operates in Turkey and Western Europe.

External Aid
Receives safe haven and modest aid from Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

Description
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. 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. Political assassinations and bombings have become commonplace. The LTTE has refrained from targeting Western tourists out of fear that foreign governments would crack down on Tamil expatriates involved in fundraising activities abroad.

Strength
Approximately 10,000 armed combatants in Sri Lanka; about 3,000 to 6,000 form a trained cadre of fighters. The LTTE also has a significant overseas support structure for fundraising, weapons procurement, and propaganda activities.

Location/Area of Operation
The Tigers control most of the northern and eastern coastal areas of Sri Lanka but have conducted operations throughout the island. Headquartered in the Jaffna Peninsula, 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. The LTTE prefers to attack vulnerable government facilities, then withdraw before reinforcements arrive.

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 bomb-making equipment. 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.

Description
Terrorist group that 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. Activities
The Abu Abbas-led faction has carried out attacks against Israel. Abbas's group was also responsible for the attack in 1985 on the cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer. A warrant for Abu Abbas's arrest is outstanding in Italy.

Strength
At least 50.

Location/Area of Operation
PLO faction based in Tunisia until Achille Lauro attack. Now based in Iraq.

External Aid
Receives logistic and military support mainly from PLO, but also from Libya and Iraq.

Description
The Khmer Rouge is a Communist insurgency that is trying to destabilize the Cambodian government. Under Pol Pot's leadership, the Khmer Rouge conducted a campaign of genocide in which more than one million people were killed during its four years in power in the late 1970s.

Activities
The Khmer Rouge now is engaged in a low-level insurgency against the Cambodian government. Although its victims are mainly Cambodian villagers, the Khmer Rouge has occasionally kidnapped and killed foreigners traveling in remote rural areas.

Strength
Approximately 8,000 guerrillas.

Location/Area of Operation
The Khmer Rouge operates in outlying provinces in Cambodia, particularly in pockets along the Thailand border.

External Aid
The Khmer Rouge is not currently receiving external assistance.

Description
Marxist-Leninist group founded in 1967 by George Habash as a member of the PLO. Advocates a Pan-Arab revolution. Opposes the Declaration of Principles signed in 1993 and has suspended participation in the PLO.

Activities
Committed numerous international terrorist attacks during the 1970s. Since the death in 1978 of Wadi Haddad, its terrorist planner, PFLP has carried out numerous attacks against Israeli or moderate Arab targets.

Strength
800 members.

Location/Area of Operation
Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and the occupied territories.

External Aid
Receives most of its financial and military assistance from Syria and Libya.

Description
Split from the PFLP in 1968, claiming that 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 allied with, supported by, and probably directed by Syria.

Activities
Has carried out numerous cross-border terrorist attacks into Israel using unusual means, such as hot-air balloons and motorized hang gliders.

Strength
Several hundred members.

Location/Area of Operation
Headquartered in Damascus, with bases in Lebanon and cells in Europe.

External Aid
Receives logistic and military support from Syria, its chief sponsor; financial support from Libya; safe haven in Syria. Receives support also from Iran.

Description
A radical terrorist group formed in 1969 as the 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.

Activities
Bombings, assassinations, kidnappings, extortion, and robberies. Targets senior British government officials, British military and police in Northern Ireland, and Northern Irish Loyalist paramilitary groups. PIRA's operations on mainland Britain have included bombing campaigns against train and subway stations and shopping areas. Observed cease-fire through all of 1995.

Strength
Several hundred members, plus several thousand sympathizers.

Location/Area of Operation
Northern Ireland, Irish Republic, Great Britain, and Western Europe.

External Aid
Has received aid from a variety of groups and countries and considerable training and arms from Libya and, at one time, the PLO. Also is suspected of receiving funds and arms from sympathizers in the United States. Similarities in operations suggest links to the ETA.

Description
Larger of Peru's two insurgencies, SL is among the world's most ruthless guerrilla organizations. Formed in the late 1960s by then university professor Abimael Guzman. Stated goal is to destroy existing Peruvian institutions and replace them with peasant revolutionary regime. Also wants to rid Peru of foreign influences. Guzman's capture in September 1992 was a major blow, as have been the arrests of other SL leaders in 1995, defections, and President Fujimori's amnesty program for repentant terrorists.

Activities
Engages in particularly brutal forms of terrorism, including the indiscriminate use of bombs. Almost every institution in Peru has been a target of SL violence. Has bombed diplomatic missions of several countries in Peru. Carries out bombing campaigns and selective assassinations. Involved in cocaine trade.

Strength
Approximately 1,500 to 2,500 armed militants; larger number of supporters, mostly in rural areas.

Location/Area of Operation
Originally rural based, but has increasingly focused its terrorist attacks in the capital.

External Aid
None.

Description
Traditional Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983. Currently struggling to remain viable. Has suffered from defections and government counterterrorist successes in addition to infighting and loss of leftist support. Objective remains to rid Peru of imperialism and establish Marxist regime.

Activities
Bombings, kidnappings, ambushes, assassinations. Previously responsible for large number of anti-US attacks. Most members have been jailed.

Strength
Unknown; greatly diminished in recent years.

Location/Area of Operation
Peru; provided assistance in Bolivia to Bolivian ELN.

External Aid
None.

Global Issues
USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 1, February 1997