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.