Group | Description
and activities | Strenght, Location and
External Aid |
Jamiat ul-Mujahidin
(JUM) | Small pro-Pakistan
militant group formed in Indian-controlled Kashmir
in 1990. Followers are mostly Kashmiris, but include
some Pakistanis. Has conducted a number of operations against Indian
military targets in Kashmir. | Unknown.
|
Kashmir and Pakistan.
|
Unknown.
|
Japanese Red Army
(JRA) | An international
terrorist group formed around 1970 after breaking away
from Japanese Communist League–Red Army Faction.
Fusako Shigenobu led the JRA 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, and the group announced it would disband
in April 2001. 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. The group had
a history of close relations with Palestinian terrorist
groups—based and operating outside Japan—since
its inception, primarily through Shigenobu. The current
status of the connections is unknown. During the 1970s, 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. | About six hard-core members;
undetermined number of sympathizers. At its peak, the
group claimed to have 30 to 40 members.
|
Location
unknown, but possibly in Asia and/or Syrian-controlled
areas of Lebanon.
|
Unknown. |
Kumpulan Mujahidin
Malaysia (KMM) | Kumpulan Mujahidin
Malaysia (KMM) favors the overthrow of the Mahathir
government and the creation of an Islamic state comprising
Malaysia, Indonesia, and the southern Philippines.
Malaysian authorities believe that smaller, more violent,
extremist groups have split from KMM. Zainon Ismail,
a former mujahid in Afghanistan, established KMM in
1995. Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz, currently detained under
Malaysia’s Internal Security Act (ISA), assumed
leadership in 1999. Malaysian police assert that three
Indonesian extremists, one of whom is in custody, have
disseminated militant ideology to the KMM. Malaysia is currently holding 48 alleged members of
the KMM and its more extremist wing under the ISA
for activities deemed threatening to Malaysia’s
national security, including planning to wage a jihad,
possession of weaponry, bombings and robberies, the
murder of a former state assemblyman, and planning
attacks on foreigners, including US citizens. Several
of the arrested militants have reportedly undergone
military training in Afghanistan, and some fought
with the Afghan mujahidin during the war against
the former Soviet Union. Others are alleged to have
ties to Islamic extremist organizations in Indonesia
and the Philippines. | Malaysian police assess the KMM
to have 70 to 80 members. The Malaysian police continued
to investigate more than 200 suspected Muslim militants
throughout 2002.
|
The KMM
is reported to have networks in the Malaysian states
of Perak, Johor, Kedah, Selangor, Terengganu, and
Kelantan. They also operate in Wilayah Persukutuan,
the federal territory comprising Kuala Lumpur. According
to press reports, the KMM has ties to radical Indonesian
Islamic groups and has sent members to Ambon, Indonesia,
to fight against Christians.
|
Largely unknown, probably self-financing. |
Libyan Islamic Fighting
Group | Emerged in 1995 among
Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Declared the government of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi
un-Islamic and pledged to overthrow it. Some members
maintain a strictly anti-Qadhafi focus and organize
against Libyan Government interests, but others are
aligned with Usama Bin Ladin’s al-Qaida organization
or are active in the international mujahidin network.
The group was designated for asset freeze under E.
O. 13224 and UNSCR 1333 in September 2001. Claimed responsibility for a failed assassination
attempt against Qadhafi in 1996 and engaged Libyan
security
forces in armed clashes during the mid-to-late 1990s.
Continues to target Libyan interests and may engage
in sporadic clashes with Libyan security forces. | Not known but probably has several hundred active members
or supporters.
|
Probably
maintains a clandestine presence in Libya, but since
late 1990s, many members have fled to various Middle
Eastern and European countries.
|
Not known. May obtain
some funding through private donations, various Islamic
nongovernmental organizations, and criminal acts. |
Lord’s Resistance
Army (LRA) | Founded in 1989 as
the successor to the Holy Spirit Movement, the LRA
seeks to overthrow the Ugandan Government and replace
it with a regime that will implement the group’s
brand of Christianity. Since the early 1990’s, the LRA has kidnapped
and killed local Ugandan civilians in order to discourage
foreign investment, precipitate a crisis in Uganda,
and replenish their ranks. | Estimated 1,000.
|
Northern
Uganda and southern Sudan. |
While the LRA has
been supported by the Government of Sudan in the past,
the Sudanese are now cooperating with the Government
of Uganda in a campaign to eliminate LRA sanctuaries
in Sudan.
|
Loyalist Volunteer
Force (LVF) | An extreme loyalist
group formed in 1996 as a faction of the loyalist Ulster
Volunteer Force (UVF) but
did not emerge publicly until 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. LVF occasionally uses the Red Hand
Defenders as a cover name for its actions but in
February called for the group’s disbandment.
In October 2001, the British Government ruled that
the LVF had broken the cease-fire it declared in
1998 after linking the group to the murder of a journalist.
According to the Independent International Commission
on Decommissioning, the LVF decommissioned a small
amount of weapons in December 1998, but it has not
repeated this gesture. Bombings, kidnappings, and close-quarter shooting
attacks. Finances its activities with drug money
and other criminal activities. 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
paramilitary 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.
Since 2000, the LVF has been engaged in a violent
feud with other loyalists that intensified in 2002
with several high-profile murders and defections. | 300 members, half of whom are
active.
|
Northern
Ireland, Ireland.
|
None. |
Moroccan Islamic
Combatant Group (GICM) | The goals of the
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM) reportedly
include establishing an Islamic state in Morocco and
supporting al-Qaida’s jihad against the West.
The group appears to have emerged in the late 1990s
and comprises Moroccan recruits who trained in armed
camps in Afghanistan. GICM members interact with other
North African extremists, particularly in Europe. On
22 November 2002, the United States designated the
GICM for asset freeze under E.O. 13224. This followed
the submission of the GICM to the UNSCR 1267 sanctions
committee. GICM members, working with other North African extremists,
engage in trafficking falsified documents and possibly
gunrunning. The group in the past has issued communiques
and statements against the Moroccan Government.
| Unknown.
|
Western
Europe, Afghanistan, and possibly Morocco.
|
Unknown. |
New Red Brigades/Communist
Combatant Party (BR/PCC) | This Marxist-Leninist
group is a successor to the Red Brigades, active in
the 1970s and 1980s. In addition to ideology, both
groups share the same symbol, a five-pointed star inside
a circle. The group is opposed to Italy’s foreign
and labor policies and NATO. BR/PCC first struck in May 1999 claiming responsibility
for the assassination of Labor Minister advisor Massimo
D’Antona. In March 2002, the group assassinated
Professor Marco Biagi, also a Labor Minister advisor.
One person arrested in conjunction with the Biagi
attack was released later on a technicality. In 2001,
Italian police arrested a suspected Red Brigade member
in connection with a bombing in April at the Institute
for International Affairs in Rome. May finance its
activities through armed robberies.
| Estimated at fewer than 30 members; probably augments
its strength through cooperation with other leftist
groups in Italy, such as the Anti-Imperialist Territorial
Nuclei.
|
Italy.
|
Has obtained weapons
from abroad. |
People Against Gangsterism
and Drugs (PAGAD) | PAGAD and its Islamic
ally Qibla view the South African Government as a threat
to Islamic values. The two promote greater political
voice for South African Muslims. Abdus Salaam Ebrahim
currently leads both groups. 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. Since 2001, PAGAD’s activities have been severely
curtailed by law-enforcement and prosecutorial efforts
against leading members of the organization. Between
1996 and 2000, however, they conducted a total of 189
bomb attacks, including nine bombings in the Western
Cape that caused serious injuries. PAGAD’s previous
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. | Current operational strength
is unknown, but previous estimates were several hundred
members. PAGAD’s G-Force probably contains fewer
than 50 members.
|
Operates
mainly in the Cape Town area.
|
Probably has ties to Islamic extremists
in the Middle East. |