Irish National Liberation Army

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) is a Marxist terrorist group that has campaigned since 1974 for a united Ireland.

Since the late 1960s, Northern Ireland has endured armed conflict between the province's Roman Catholics (also called Republicans or Nationalists), who want Northern Ireland to become part of the Republic of Ireland, and the province's Protestants (also called Loyalists or Unionists), who want it to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The resurgence of violence in the 1960s brought about a revival of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which was originally formed in 1919. The modern IRA split into two factions in late 1969. One, calling itself the Provisional IRA, went on to become the largest and most powerful of the Republican paramilitary groups; it is the Provisional IRA most outsiders think of when they think of the IRA.

The other faction, calling itself the Official IRA, was less ideologically committed to armed struggle. The leaders of the Officials were leftists with Marxist inclinations; they believed that Protestant and Catholic working-class solidarity could overcome sectarian interests. The Officials were thus much more open to political solutions and intercommunity dialogue. In 1972, the Officials declared a cease-fire, hoping to parlay their military strength into open political power.

Dissatisfied with the Officials' continuing cease-fire, in December 1974 a small faction of Official members, who shared the group's Marxist beliefs but lacked their leadership's faith in the political process, formed the Irish National Liberation Army. The political wing of the INLA, founded simultaneously, is [Page 182]called the Irish Republican Socialist Party. At present, most observers believe it to have no more than a few dozen members. (It has sometimes carried out attacks using the cover names People's Liberation Army, People's Republican Army, and the Catholic Reaction Force.) At the height of its power in the mid-to late 1970s, the INLA was estimated to have more than 100 members

The Officials were displeased with the INLA's defection from its ranks; in early 1975, a feud erupted between the two groups. The first death attributed to the INLA is that of an Official IRA leader, Paul Crawford, in April 1975. In the years following, the INLA would be involved in several more vicious feuds, both with other paramilitary forces and within the group itself.

The INLA was responsible for several significant terrorist attacks, including the 1979 car bombing in parking lot of the House of Commons that killed Airey Neave, a prominent Unionist member of Parliament, and the 1982 bombing at the Droppin' Well disco, which killed 17 people, 11 of them British soldiers. The INLA was also very involved in the 1981 prison hunger strikes led by IRA member Bobby Sands; of the 10 men who died, three were INLA members. In December 1997, three INLA prisoners obtained a gun and assassinated Billy “King Rat” Wright, leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force, in the courtyard of the Maze prison. Wright's death led to riots and a string of revenge killings both inside prison walls and beyond them.

On August 22, 1998, following the Omagh bombing by splinter group the Real IRA, the INLA declared a cease-fire. (Government security forces allege that INLA and Real IRA provided mutual aid; they believe that the INLA provided the vehicles that the Real IRA used in the Omagh bombing.) The INLA is thought to be responsible for between 125 and 150 deaths. Although the INLA has maintained its cease-fire since 1998, it has not disarmed and claims it retains the right to engage in armed campaigns.

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