S. naval, usa. Terrorist Group Profiles: Index of Groups
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Real IRA (RIRA); a.k.a. True IRAFrom: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2003. United States Department of State, June 2004. Comments on the content of the material should be sent to the U.S. Department of State 
Description Formed in early 1998 as the clandestine armed wing of the 32-County Sovereignty Movement, a “political pressure group” dedicated to removing British forces from Northern Ireland and unifying Ireland. RIRA also seeks to disrupt the Northern Ireland peace process. The 32-County Sovereignty Movement opposed Sinn Fein’s adoption in September 1997 of the Mitchell principles of democracy and nonviolence and opposed the amendment in December 1999 of Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution, which laid claim to Northern Ireland. Despite internal rifts and calls by some jailed members—including the group’s founder Michael “Mickey” McKevitt—for a cease-fire and the group’s disbandment, the group pledged additional violence in October 2002 and continued to conduct attacks. First designated in May 2001. Activities Bombings, assassinations, and robberies. Many Real IRA members are former Provisional IRA members who left that organization following the Provisional IRA cease-fire and bring to RIRA a wealth of experience in terrorist tactics and bombmaking. Targets have included civilians (most notoriously in the Omagh bombing in August 1998), the British military, the police in Northern Ireland, and Northern Ireland Protestant communities. Since October 1999, RIRA has carried out more than 80 terrorist attacks. RIRA’s most recent fatal attack was in August 2002 at a London Army Base that killed a construction worker. In June 2003 raids, Irish national police interdicted two large-scale vehicle-born improvised explosive devices, each weighing more than 1,000 lbs. Five RIRA members and a senior Continuity Irish Republican Army member (CIRA) also were arrested during the raids. Strength 100 to 200 activists plus possible limited support from IRA hardliners dissatisfied with the IRA cease-fire and other republican sympathizers. Approximately 40 RIRA members are in Irish jails. Location/Area of Operation Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, and Irish Republic. External Aid Suspected of receiving funds from sympathizers in the United States and of attempting to buy weapons from US gun dealers. RIRA also is reported to have purchased sophisticated weapons from the Balkans. In May 2002, three Irish nationals associated with RIRA pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to cause an explosion and trying to obtain weapons following their extradition from Slovenia to the United Kingdom. 33. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC)From: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2003. United States Department of State, June 2004. Comments on the content of the material should be sent to the U.S. Department of State
Description Growing out of the turmoil and fighting in the 1950s between liberal and conservative militias, the FARC was established in 1964 by the Colombian Communist Party to defend what were then autonomous Communist-controlled rural areas. The FARC is Latin America’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped insurgency of Marxist origin. Although only nominally fighting in support of Marxist goals today, the FARC is governed by a general secretariat led by longtime leader Manuel Marulanda (a.k.a. “Tirofi jo”) and six others, including senior military commander Jorge Briceno (a.k.a. “Mono Jojoy”). It is organized along military lines and includes several units that operate mostly in key urban areas such as Bogota. In 2003, the FARC conducted several high profile terrorist attacks, including a February car-bombing of a Bogota nightclub that killed more than 30 persons and wounded more than 160, as well as a November grenade attack in Bogota’s restaurant district that wounded three Americans. First designated in October 1997. Activities Bombings, murder, mortar attacks, narcotrafficking, 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. In February 2003, the FARC captured and continues to hold three US contractors and killed one other American and a Colombian when their plane crashed in Florencia. Foreign citizens often are targets of FARC kidnapping for ransom. The FARC has well-documented ties to the full range of narcotics trafficking activities, including taxation, cultivation, and distribution. Strength Approximately 9,000 to 12,000 armed combatants and several thousand more supporters, mostly in rural areas. Location/Area of Operation Primarily in Colombia, with some activities—extortion, kidnapping, weapons sourcing, logistics, and R&R—in neighboring Brazil, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador. External Aid Cuba provides some medical care and political consultation. A trial is currently underway in Bogota to determine whether three members of the Irish Republican Army—arrested in Colombia in 2001 upon exiting the FARC-controlled demilitarized zone (despeje)—provided advanced explosives training to the FARC. The FARC and the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN) often use the border area for crossborder incursions and use Venezuelan territory near the border as a safehaven. 34. Revolutionary NucleiFrom: Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2003. United States Department of State, June 2004. Comments on the content of the material should be sent to the U.S. Department of State
Other Names Revolutionary Cells Description Revolutionary Nuclei (RN) emerged from a broad range of antiestablishment and anti- US/ NATO/EU leftist groups active in Greece between 1995 and 1998. The group is believed to be the successor to or offshoot of Greece’s most prolific terrorist group, Revolutionary People’s Struggle (ELA), which has not claimed an attack since January 1995. Indeed, RN appeared to fill the void left by ELA, particularly as lesser groups faded from the scene. RN’s few communiques show strong similarities in rhetoric, tone, and theme to ELA proclamations. RN has not claimed an attack since November 2000 nor has it announced its disbandment. First designated in October 1997. Activities Since it began operations in January 1995, the group has claimed responsibility for some two-dozen arson attacks and low-level bombings targeting a range of US, Greek, and other European targets in Greece. In its most infamous and lethal attack to date, the group claimed responsibility for a bomb it detonated at the Intercontinental Hotel in April 1999 that resulted in the death of a Greek woman and injured a Greek man. Its modus operandi includes warning calls of impending attacks, attacks targeting property vice individuals, use of rudimentary timing devices, and strikes during the late evening– to–early morning hours. RN may have been responsible for two attacks in July against a US insurance company and a local bank in Athens. RN’s last confirmed attack against US interests in Greece was in November 2000 with two separate bombings against the Athens offices of Citigroup and the studio of a Greek/American sculptor. Greek targets have included judicial and other government office buildings, private vehicles, and the offices of Greek firms involved in NATO-related defense contracts in Greece. Similarly, the group has attacked European interests in Athens, including Barclays Bank in December 1998 and November 2000. Strength Group membership is believed to be small, probably drawing from the Greek militant leftist or anarchist milieu. Location/Area of Operation Primary area of operation is in the Athens metropolitan area. External Aid Unknown, but believed to be self-sustaining. 35. |