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List of designated terrorist groups

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Terrorism and political violence
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This page is for organizations only. For individuals, see Category:Terrorists.

There exist many different definitions of terrorism, but the article terrorism notes the following most commonly included elements:

Organizations listed on this page have verifiably used or attempted to use terrorist tactics, by the above criteria. Self-identification as a "terrorist" group is not required; see terrorism for a list of alternative terms, with both positive and negative connotations.

Religious Terrorists

It has often been argued that the oldest form of terrorism is religious terrorism. Reference is often made to the Assassins (more properly, the Hashshashin), an unusual group of Islamic origin that flourished in the thirteenth century.

Religious terrorism is a form of religious violence. As with other forms of terrorism, there is no real consensus as to its definition. Groups are frequently classified as practitioners of religious terrorism for any one of the following reasons:

  • The group itself is defined by religion rather than by other factors (such as ideology or ethnicity).
  • Religion plays some part in defining or determining the objectives or methods of the group.
  • The ultimate objective of the group is religiously defined.

Controversy concerning classification is often found because:

  • Religion and ethnicity frequently coincide. Ethnic conflict may thus appear as religious, or religious conflict may appear as ethnic.
  • Religious groups, like other groups, frequently pursue political goals. In such cases it is often not clear which is uppermost, the political goal or the religious motivation.

Groups which have been defined as religious terrorists on one of these bases, or for other reasons, are listed below.

Hindu

Christian

  • Freedomites (1902-present) Active in Canada, notable for their longevity
  • Nagaland Rebels (1947-present) Active in predominantly Christian state in Hindu majority India. Involved in several bombings in 2004. Goal: Independence from India after annexing parts of neighboring Indian states and Burma if it has Christian majority.
  • National Liberation Front of Tripura (1989-present) A group that seeks the independence of Tripura from India to create a Christian Tripura.
  • Lord's Resistance Army Christian/Pagan terrorist group that operates in northern Uganda, it seeks to overthrow the Ugandan government and create a country based on the ten commandments.
  • God's Army A terrorist group in Myanmar led by two charming twins - Johnny and Luther Htoo [3].

Jewish

Definition is especially difficult for Jewish religious terrorist organisations, since "Jewish" may denote religion or ethnicity.

Muslim

islam zindabad

Islamist Fronts

Sikh (Khalistan)

All of these groups demand a Khalistan (Land of the Pure) in the Indian state of Punjab and adjoining areas for Sikhs. Most have a variable amount of support from Sikhs abroad and have been in existence since the 1980s. Many have been weakened and have cut down on activities, yet they continue. The militancy in Punjab has claimed approximately 100,000 lives, according to estimates put forward by Amnesty International: this figure involves killings by both Sikh militants and the Indian forces. With the exception of the first two, the other groups have only been proscribed in India.

Other religious terrorists

Nationalistic Terrorist Organizations

Palestinian

Main article: Palestinian political violence

Pre-Independence Irish Nationalists

Irish Nationalists (Northern Ireland)

Sri Lanka

  • Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, aka Tamil Tigers)- Sri Lanka. One of the largest terrorist groups with 10,000 Tamils who fight for liberation from SriLankan government. The group has carried out 240+ suicide bombings since the early 80s in the process of what they describe as their freedom struggle. Alleged members of the group were convicted for the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Northern Irish Loyalists (Northern Ireland)

Other nationalist terrorists

Left-wing terrorists

Right-wing terrorists

Racist terrorists (mostly neo-Nazis and white-supremacists)

Anti-Communists

Issue groups

These groups are active on particular political issues, seeking policy change but not necessarily the overthrow of the state. Classifying these groups as "terrorist organizations" may be more controversial than most. Some of these groups attempt to limit their actions to property damage only, and avoid harming humans (or in some cases, humans and animals). In these cases, they usually consider property damage to be "non-violent", though opponents and law enforcement agencies usually disagree.

Others

See also

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