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The following is a list of paramilitary organisations.
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The following is a list of paramilitary organisations.
The Public Force of Costa Rica is responsible for law enforcement duties, acting as both a civilian police force and gendarmerie. In addition to ordinary policing, it is responsible for border patrol, counter-insurgency, riot control, tourism security, and coast guard duties.
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladesh Ansar | 12 February 1948 | Gendarmerie | Second largest paramilitary force in the world | 6.2 million | [2] |
| Border Guard Bangladesh | Border surveillance and internal security personnel | 70 thousand | |||
| Bangladesh Coast Guard | 14 February 1995 | ||||
| Bangladesh National Cadet Corps | 23 March 1979 |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Armed Police | 19 June 1982 | Gendarmerie | 1.5 million | [3] | |
| Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps | 1954 | State-owned enterprise Paramilitary organisation | unknown, officially 2.6 million employees | ||
| Militia of China | 1927 | Militia for general national defense mobilization | 8,000,000 [4] | [5] | |
| Maritime Militia of China | 1949-1950 | Naval militia | Unknown. Possibly no official members. |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Police Agency | 5 July 1972 | Law enforcement agency | |||
| Thunder Squad | 1985 | Localized Police tactical unit | 200 | ||
| Special Operations Group | Elite Paramilitary Special Forces Police tactical unit | ||||
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Civil Aid Service | 1952 | Emergency Response/Search and Rescue Civil Agency | 112 full time; 3,634 adult members and 3,232 cadet members | ||
| Government Flying Service | 1993 | Paramilitary Law Enforcement related Air support services | 335 | ||
| Hong Kong Police Force | Police force | For subdivisions, see Structure of the Hong Kong Police Force. | Disciplined officers: 33,210 (2023) [6] Auxiliary officers: 4,501 (2021), [7] Unsworn: 4,735 (2023) [6] | ||
| Special Duties Unit | 23 July 1974 | Elite Paramilitary Special Forces Police tactical unit | Over 120 [8] | ||
| Counter Terrorism Response Unit | July 2009 | Anti-terrorism patrol-type Police tactical unit | 141 (2011) [9] |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assam Rifles | 1835 | Border Guarding and law enforcement force | 63,747 | [10] | |
| BSF | 1 December 1965 | Largest border guarding force anywhere in the world | 292,000 | [11] | |
| CRPF | 27 July 1937 | A central police force whose job is to assist state government, police or other agencies at time of their needs | 313,634 | [12] | |
| ITBP | 1962 | Border Guarding and Law enforcement force which operates on the Indo - Chinese borders | 89,432 | [13] | |
| NSG | 16 October 1984 | Counter-terrorism force | this force recruits its personnel from the police, paramilitary and Army from all around the India with the maximum service tenure of five years. | ||
| CISF | 10 March 1969 | Guard Sensitive National Assets | Protection and Security | 1,90,000 |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Police Agency | July 1, 1954 | Law enforcement agency | 7,995 (2020) [14] | ||
| Special Assault Team | 1977 | Elite Paramilitary Special Forces Police tactical unit | Approx. 300 |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People's Border Guards | Border surveillance and internal security personnel | ||||
| Worker-Peasant Red Guards | January 1959 | Paramilitary militia | 5 million |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Police Agency | 1 August 1991 | Law enforcement agency | 126,227 (2020) [15] | ||
| Special Operations Unit | Elite Paramilitary Special Forces Police tactical unit |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armed Police Force | 24 October 2001 | Counter-insurgency Specialised Police Force | Unknown | [16] |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizen Armed Force Geographical Unit | 25 July 1987 | Auxiliary unit | 60,000 (2007) | [17] | |
| Special Action Force |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special Task Force | 1983 | Elite Paramilitary – Special Operations Forces |
| Name | Active Since | Type | Comments | Size | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Border Patrol Police | |||||
| Marine Paramilitary Task Force | |||||
| Paramilitary Marine Regiment, Royal Thai Navy | Also known as Thahan Phran Marines | ||||
| Thahan Phran | Also known as Thai Rangers | ||||
| Village Scouts | |||||
| Volunteer Defense Corps | 10 February 1954 | Security Forces | Unknown | [18] |
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2021) |
See also Right-wing paramilitarism in Colombia.
Various unorganized non-governmental Militia organizations in the United States (that are not associated with the U.S. military, law enforcement agencies, nor state defense forces in any way). There are many others totaling at around 334 unorganized militia groups as of 2011 [19]
There are a number of paramilitary organisations in the United Kingdom, most of them operate in and around Northern Ireland and are a continuation of the various paramilitary groups which operated in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. Apart from these, there are a small number of white supremacist paramilitary organisations which operate in the United Kingdom.
Awaqirs formed the Avengers of Blood in 2013 to seek revenge after a deadly clash with an Islamist-leaning militia. The Avengers became known as enforcers for Mr. Hifter, widely blamed for disappearances and killings. [...] The militia leader, Ezzedine el-Waqwaq, said he was busy with civilian matters.
The Provisional Irish Republican Army, officially known as the Irish Republican Army and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It argued that the all-island Irish Republic continued to exist, and it saw itself as that state's army, the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected.
The Troubles were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "irregular war" or "low-level war". The conflict began in the late 1960s and is usually deemed to have ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. Although the Troubles mostly took place in Northern Ireland, at times violence spilled over into parts of the Republic of Ireland, England, and mainland Europe.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) is an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group based in Northern Ireland. Formed in 1965, it first emerged in 1966. Its first leader was Gusty Spence, a former Royal Ulster Rifles soldier from Northern Ireland. The group undertook an armed campaign of almost thirty years during The Troubles. It declared a ceasefire in 1994 and officially ended its campaign in 2007, although some of its members have continued to engage in violence and criminal activities. The group is a proscribed organisation and is on the terrorist organisation list of the United Kingdom.
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA was an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a "workers' republic" encompassing all of Ireland. It emerged in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of the Troubles, when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) split into two factions. The other was the Provisional IRA. Each continued to call itself simply "the IRA" and rejected the other's legitimacy.
A paramilitary is a military that is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term '"paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Ultranationalist terrorism is a form of terrorism motivated by ultranationalism. Ultranationalist terrorists seek to form self-determination in some form, which may take the form of gaining greater autonomy, establishing a completely independent sovereign state (separatism), or joining another existing sovereign state with which the nationalists identify (irredentism). Ultranationalist terrorists often oppose what they consider to be occupying, imperial, or otherwise illegitimate powers.
The Irish People's Liberation Organisation was a small Irish socialist republican paramilitary organisation formed in 1986 by disaffected and expelled members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), whose factions coalesced in the aftermath of the supergrass trials. It developed a reputation for intra-republican and sectarian violence as well as criminality, before being forcibly disbanded by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1992.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to anti-imperialism through Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British colonial rule.
Hugh Torney was an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) paramilitary leader best known for his activities on behalf of the INLA and Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) in a feud with the Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO), a grouping composed of disgruntled former INLA members, in the mid-1980s.
The Ulster Volunteers was an Irish unionist, loyalist paramilitary organisation founded in 1912 to block domestic self-government for Ireland, which was then part of the United Kingdom. The Ulster Volunteers were based in the northern province of Ulster. Many Ulster Protestants and Irish unionists feared being governed by a nationalist Catholic-majority parliament in Dublin and losing their links with Great Britain. In 1913, the militias were organised into the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and vowed to resist any attempts by the British Government to impose Home Rule on Ulster. Later that year, Irish nationalists formed a rival militia, the Irish Volunteers, to safeguard Home Rule. In April 1914, the UVF smuggled 25,000 rifles into Ulster from Imperial Germany. The Home Rule Crisis was interrupted by the First World War. Much of the UVF enlisted with the British Army's 36th (Ulster) Division and went to fight on the Western Front.
From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted an armed paramilitary campaign primarily in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Troubles.
William McMillen, aka Liam McMillen, was an Irish republican activist and an officer of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He was killed in 1975, in a feud with the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. This involved counter-insurgency and supporting the police in carrying out internal security duties such as guarding key points, mounting checkpoints and patrols, carrying out raids and searches, riot control and bomb disposal. More than 300,000 soldiers served in Operation Banner. At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Great Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed: the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).
A volunteer is a member of various Irish republican paramilitary organisations. Among these have been the various forms of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), and the Irish People's Liberation Organization (IPLO). Óglach is the equivalent title in the Irish language.
UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the brigade were Robin Jackson, known as "The Jackal", and Billy Wright. The Mid-Ulster Brigade carried out many attacks, mainly in Northern Ireland, especially in the South Armagh area, but it also extended its operational reach into the Republic of Ireland. Two of the most notorious attacks in the history of the Troubles were carried out by the Mid-Ulster Brigade: the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings and the Miami Showband killings in 1975. Members of the Mid-Ulster Brigade were part of the Glenanne gang which the Pat Finucane Centre has since linked to at least 87 lethal attacks in the 1970s.
The Battle of Lenadoon was a series of gun battles fought over a six day period from 9–14 July 1972 between the Provisional IRA and the British Army. It started on Thursday, 9 July 1972 in and around the Lenadoon Avenue area and spread to other places in Belfast. Loyalist paramilitaries and the Official Irish Republican Army were involved in some of the incidents. 28 people in total were killed in Belfast according to the CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths. The violence ended a two-week truce between the forces of the British Government and the IRA.
The Central Bar bombing was a bomb attack on a pub in the town of Gilford near Portadown in County Down in Northern Ireland on 31 December 1975. The attack was carried out by members of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) using the covername "People's Republican Army" although contemporary reports also said the "Armagh unit" of the "People's Republican Army" had claimed responsibility. Three Protestant civilians were killed in the bombing.
The Irish National Liberation Army Belfast Brigade was the main brigade area of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). The other Brigade areas were in Derry which was split between two battalions, the first in Derry City, and the second battalion in south County Londonderry and County Armagh which was also split into two battalions, a south Armagh and a north Armagh battalion, with smaller units in Newry, east and west County Tyrone and south County Fermanagh.
This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army, an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of a Guerrilla campaign against the British Army & Royal Ulster Constabulary and internal Irish Republican feuds with the Provisional IRA & Irish National Liberation Army from the early 1970s - to the mid-1970s during the most violent phase of "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland.