TERRORIST ACT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does terrorist act mean? 

• TERRORIST ACT (noun)
  The noun TERRORIST ACT has 1 sense:

1. the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear

  Familiarity information: TERRORIST ACT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TERRORIST ACT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

act of terrorism; terrorism; terrorist act

Hypernyms ("terrorist act" is a kind of...):

terror (the use of extreme fear in order to coerce people (especially for political reasons))

Domain member category:

biological terrorism; bioterrorism (terrorism using the weapons of biological warfare)

chemical terrorism (terrorism using the chemical agents of chemical warfare; can undermine the personal security of citizens)

cyber-terrorism; cyberwar (an assault on electronic communication networks)

domestic terrorism (terrorism practiced in your own country against your own people)

eco-warfare; ecological terrorism; ecological warfare; ecoterrorism (violence carried out to further the political or social objectives of the environmentalists)

international terrorism (terrorism practiced in a foreign country by terrorists who are not native to that country)

narcoterrorism (the financing of terrorist activities by participation in the drug trade)

nuclear terrorism (the use of a nuclear device by a terrorist organization to cause massive devastation or the use (or threat of use) of fissionable radioactive materials)

state-sponsored terrorism (terrorism practiced by a government against its own people or in support of international terrorism)

theoterrorism (terrorism for a religious purpose)

terrorisation; terrorization (an act of terrorism)

bombing (the use of bombs for sabotage; a tactic frequently used by terrorists)

dirty war (an offensive conducted by secret police or the military of a regime against revolutionary and terrorist insurgents and marked by the use of kidnapping and torture and murder with civilians often being the victims)

counterintelligence (intelligence activities concerned with identifying and counteracting the threat to security posed by hostile intelligence organizations or by individuals engaged in espionage or sabotage or subversion or terrorism)

ring containment (a strategy of defense in cases of bioterrorism; vaccination only of people exposed and others who are in contact with them)

frightening; terrorisation; terrorization (the act of inspiring with fear)

stash house (a house where weapons and supplies are hidden)

USS Cole (a United States destroyer)

twin towers; World Trade Center; WTC (twin skyscrapers 110 stories high in New York City; built 1368 feet tall in 1970 to 1973; destroyed by a terrorist attack on September 11, 2001)

counterterrorism (a strategy intended to prevent or counter terrorism)

biometric authentication; biometric identification; identity verification (the automatic identification of living individuals by using their physiological and behavioral characteristics)

automatic face recognition; face recognition; facial recognition (biometric identification by scanning a person's face and matching it against a library of known faces)

facial profiling (identification of criminals and terrorist by means of videotapes of their faces)

Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades (a terrorist group that has worked with Al Qaeda; claimed responsibility for attacks in Iraq and Turkey)

Abu Sayyaf; Bearer of the Sword (a small gang of terrorist thugs claiming to seek a separate Islamic state for the Muslim minority in the Philippines; uses bombing and assassination and extortion and kidnapping)

Aksa Martyrs Brigades; al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades; Martyrs of al-Aqsa (a militant offshoot of al-Fatah that is the newest and strongest and best equipped faction active in the West Bank; responsible for many deadly attacks in Israel in 2002)

ABB; Alex Boncayao Brigade; Revolutionary Proletarian Army; RPA-ABB (an urban hit squad and guerrilla group of the Communist Party in the Philippines; formed in the 1980s)

al-Asifa; al-Fatah; Fatah (a Palestinian political and military organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state; during the 1960s and 1970s trained terrorist and insurgent groups)

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya; Islamic Group (a terrorist organization of militant Islamists organized into tiny cells of extreme fundamentalists; emerged during the 1970s mainly in Egyptian jails)

AIAI; al-Itihaad al-Islamiya; al Itihaad al Islamiya; Islamic Unity (a fundamentalist Islamic group in Somalia who initially did fundraising for al-Qaeda; responsible for ambushing United States Army Rangers and for terrorist bombings in Ethiopia; believed to have branches in several countries)

al-Jihad; Egyptian Islamic Jihad; Islamic Jihad; Vanguards of Conquest (an Islamic extremist group active since the late 1970s; seeks to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state; works in small underground cells)

al-Ma'unah (a radical insurgent Islamist group consisting of disaffected middle-class professionals in Malaysia who want to overthrow the government by violent means and set up an Islamic state)

al-Muhajiroun (a hard-line extremist Islamic group in Great Britain who support bin Laden and other terrorist groups)

Al Nathir (a Palestinian terrorist organization formed in 2002 and linked to Fatah movement of Yasser Arafat)

al-Qa'ida; al-Qaeda; al-Qaida; al Qaeda; al Qaida; Base; Qaeda (a terrorist network intensely opposed to the United States that dispenses money and logistical support and training to a wide variety of radical Islamic terrorist groups; has cells in more than 50 countries)

al-Rashid Trust (a terrorist group organized in 1996 after the Taliban took over Afghanistan and part of Osama bin Laden's international system; provides financial support for the Taliban and al-Qaeda and Jaish-i-Mohammed and assists Muslim militants around the world; established a network of madrasas and mosques in Afghanistan)

al Sunna Wal Jamma; Followers of the Prophet (a resurgent Islamic fundamentalist organization based in Nigeria that is thought to be planning terrorist attacks)

al-Tawhid; Al Tawhid; Divine Unity (an Islamic terrorist cell that originated in Jordan but operates in Germany; goal is to attack Europe and Russia with chemical weapons)

al-Ummah (a terrorist group formed in India in 1992; is believed to be responsible for bombings in southern India in 1998)

Ansar al-Islam; Ansar al Islam; Supporters of Islam (a radical Islamic group of terrorists in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan who oppose an independent secular nation as advocated by the United States; some members fought with the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan; said to receive financial support from Saddam Hussein)

Armata Corsa; Corsican Army (a terrorist organization founded in 1999 to oppose the link between nationalists and the Corsican mafia)

Armed Islamic Group; GIA (a terrorist organization of Islamic extremists whose violent activities began in 1992; aims to overthrow the secular Algerian regime and replace it with an Islamic state)

3rd October Organization; Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia; ASALA; Orly Group (a militant Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization formed in 1975 to force Turkey to acknowledge killing more than a million Armenians and forcibly removing them from border areas in 1915; wants Turkey to pay reparations and cede territory to Armenia)

ALIR; Army for the Liberation of Rwanda; FAR; Former Armed Forces; Interahamwe (a terrorist organization that seeks to overthrow the government dominated by Tutsi and to institute Hutu control again)

Asbat al-Ansar; Band of Partisans (an extremist Palestinian Sunni group active in Lebanon in the early 1990s that advocates Salafism; responsible for murders and bombings; seeks to overthrow the Lebanese government and control Palestinian refugee camps; funded by al-Qaeda)

Aum; Aum Shinrikyo; Supreme Truth (a terrorist organization whose goal is to take over Japan and then the world; based on a religion founded in 1987 that combines elements of Buddhism with Christianity)

Baader-Meinhof Gang; Baader Meinhof Gang (a radical left-wing revolutionary terrorist group active in Germany from 1968 until 1977)

Basque Fatherland and Liberty; Basque Homeland and Freedom; ETA; Euskadi ta Askatasuna (a terrorist organization organized in 1959 by student activists who were dissatisfied with the moderate nationalism of the traditional Basque party; want to create an independent homeland in Spain's western Pyrenees)

Black September Movement (a former Palestinian terrorist organization (now merged with Fatah Revolutionary Council) that assassinated the Prime Minister of Jordan and during the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich killed 11 Israeli athletes)

Chukaku-Ha (an ultra-leftist militant group founded in 1957 from the breakup of the Japanese Communist Party; includes a covert action wing)

CIRA; Continuity Army Council; Continuity Irish Republican Army (a terrorist organization formed in Ireland in 1994 as a clandestine armed wing of Sinn Fein)

Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine; DFLP; PDFLP; Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (a Marxist-Leninist group that believes Palestinian goals can only be achieved by revolutionary change)

East Turkestan Islamic Movement; East Turkistan Islamic Movement (a group of Uighur Muslims fighting Chinese control of Xinjiang; declared by China in 2001 to be terrorists although there is a long history of cycles of insurgency and repression)

Abu Nidal Organization; ANO; Arab Revolutionary Brigades; Black September; Fatah-RC; Fatah Revolutionary Council; Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims (a Palestinian international terrorist organization that split from the PLO in 1974; has conducted terrorist attacks in 20 countries)

Fatah Tanzim; Tanzim (a terrorist group organized by Yasser Arafat in 1995 as the armed wing of al-Fatah; serves a dual function of violent confrontation with Israel and serves as Arafat's unofficial militia to prevent rival Islamists from usurping leadership)

First of October Antifascist Resistance Group; GRAPO (an armed wing of the (illegal) Communist Party of Spain; seeks to overthrow the Spanish government and replace it with a Marxist-Leninist regime)

Force 17 (formed in 1972 as a personal security force for Arafat and other PLO leaders; became one of PLO's elite units; has built an extensive infrastructure of terrorist cells and weapon depots in Europe while attacking Israeli targets)

Forces of Umar Al-Mukhtar; Umar al-Mukhtar Forces (a little known Palestinian group responsible for bombings and for killing Israelis; seeks to defeat Israel and liberate southern Lebanon, Palestine, and Golan Heights)

Hamas; Islamic Resistance Movement (a militant Islamic fundamentalist political movement that opposes peace with Israel and uses terrorism as a weapon; seeks to create an Islamic state in place of Israel; is opposed to the PLO and has become a leading perpetrator of terrorist activity in Israel; pioneered suicide bombing)

Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami; Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami; HUJI (an extremist militant group in Pakistan occupied Kashmir that seeks an Islamic government and that has had close links and fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan)

Al Faran; Harkat-ul-Mujahidin; Harkat ul-Ansar; Harkat ul-Mujahedeen; HUA; HUM; Movement of Holy Warriors (an Islamic fundamentalist group in Pakistan that fought the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s; now operates as a terrorist organization primarily in Kashmir and seeks Kashmir's accession by Pakistan)

Hezbollah; Hizballah; Hizbollah; Hizbullah; Islamic Jihad; Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine; Lebanese Hizballah; Organization of the Oppressed on Earth; Party of God; Revolutionary Justice Organization (a Shiite terrorist organization with strong ties to Iran; seeks to create an Iranian fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon; car bombs are the signature weapon)

Freedom Party; Hizb ut-Tahrir (the most popular and feared Islamic extremist group in central Asia; advocates 'pure' Islam and the creation of a worldwide Islamic state)

International Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and Crusaders (a terrorist group organized by Osama bin Laden in 1998 that provided an umbrella organization for al-Qaeda and other militant groups in Egypt and Algeria and Pakistan and Bangladesh)

Catholic Reaction Force; INLA; Irish National Liberation Army; People's Liberation Army; People's Republican Army (a radical terrorist group dedicated to the removal of British forces from Northern Ireland and the unification of Ireland)

IRA; Irish Republican Army; Provisional IRA; Provisional Irish Republican Army; Provos (a militant organization of Irish nationalists who used terrorism and guerilla warfare in an effort to drive British forces from Northern Ireland and achieve a united independent Ireland)

Aden-Abyan Islamic Army; IAA; Islamic Army of Aden; Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan (Yemen-based terrorist group that supports al-Qaeda's goals; seeks to overthrow the Yemeni government and eliminate United States interests; responsible for bombings and kidnappings and killing western tourists in Yemen)

IBDA-C; Islamic Great Eastern Raiders-Front (a Turkish terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for bombing a British consulate and bank in Istanbul; a violent opponent of Turkey's secular government and its ties to the European Union and NATO)

IMU; Islamic Group of Uzbekistan; Islamic Party of Turkestan (a terrorist group of Islamic militants formed in 1996; opposes Uzbekistan's secular regime and wants to establish an Islamic state in central Asia; is a conduit for drugs from Afghanistan to central Asian countries)

Army of Muhammad; Jaish-e-Muhammad; Jaish-i-Mohammed; JEM (a terrorist organization founded in 2000; a militant Islamic group active in Kashmir and closely aligned with al-Rashid Trust; seeks to secure release of imprisoned fellow militants by kidnappings)

Fuqra; Jamaat ul-Fuqra; Tanzimul Fuqra (an Islamic terrorist group organized in the 1980s; seeks to purify Islam through violence; the cells in North America and the Caribbean insulate themselves from Western culture and will even attack other Muslims who they regard as heretics)

Anti-Imperialist International Brigade; Japanese Red Army; JRA (a terrorist group organized in 1970 to overthrow the Japanese government and monarchy and to foment world revolution; is said to have close ties with Palestinian terrorists)

Jayshullah (an indigenous Islamic terrorist group in Azerbaijan that attempted to bomb the United States embassy in 1999)

Islamic Community; Islamic Group; Jemaah Islamiyah; JI; Malaysia Militant Group; Malaysian Mujahidin Group (a clandestine group of southeast Asian terrorists organized in 1993 and trained by al-Qaeda; supports militant Muslims in Indonesia and the Philippines and has cells in Singapore and Malaysia and Indonesia)

Jerusalem Warriors (ethnic Turkish Sunni terrorists who are linked with the Turkish Hizballah; killed a United States Air Force sergeant in 1991)

Jund-ul-Islam; Soldiers of God (an Islamic extremist group of Kurds who oppose secular control with bombings and assassinations; believed to have ties with al-Qaeda)

Kach; Kahane Chai (a terrorist organization founded for Jewish defense; fights antisemitism and hopes to restore the biblical state of Israel)

Association of Islamic Groups and Communities; Caliphate State; Kaplan Group (a Turkish terrorist group of fundamentalist Muslims with ties to al-Qaeda that operates in Germany; seeks the violent overthrow of the Turkish government and the establishment of an Islamic nation modeled on Iran)

Communist Party of Kampuchea; Khmer Rouge; KR; Party of Democratic Kampuchea (a communist organization formed in Cambodia in 1970; became a terrorist organization in 1975 when it captured Phnom Penh and created a government that killed an estimated three million people; was defeated by Vietnamese troops but remained active until 1999)

KKK; Klan; Ku Klux Klan (a secret society of white Southerners in the United States; was formed in the 19th century to resist the emancipation of slaves; used terrorist tactics to suppress Black people)

klavern (a local unit of the Ku Klux Klan)

Kurdistan Labor Pary; Kurdistan Workers Party; Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan; PPK (a Marxist-Leninist terrorist group of Kurds trying to establish an independent Kurdish state in eastern Turkey)

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (a Sunni Muslim extremist group in Pakistan that collaborates with al-Qaeda; the armed wing of Sipah-e-Sahaba)

Al Qanoon; Lashkar-e-Omar (a terrorist organization formed in Pakistan in 2002 as a coalition of extremist Islamic militant groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad and elements of al-Qaeda)

Army of the Pure; Army of the Righteous; Lashkar-e-Taiba; Lashkar-e-Tayyiba; Lashkar-e-Toiba; LET (a brutal terrorist group active in Kashmir; fights against India with the goal of restoring Islamic rule of India)

Holy War Warriors; Laskar Jihad (a paramilitary terrorist organization of militant Muslims in Indonesia; wages a jihad against Christians in Indonesia; subscribes to the Wahhabi creed of Islam)

Lautaro Faction of the United Popular Action Movement; Lautaro Popular Rebel Forces; Lautaro Youth Movement (a violent terrorist group organized in the 1980s and advocating the overthrow of the Chilean military government; leaders are mainly criminals or impoverished youths)

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; LTTE; Tamil Tigers; Tigers; World Tamil Association; World Tamil Movement (a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka that began in 1970 as a student protest over the limited university access for Tamil students; currently seeks to establish an independent Tamil state called Eelam; relies on guerilla strategy including terrorist tactics that target key government and military personnel)

Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya; FIG; Libyan Fighting Group; Libyan Islamic Fighting Group; Libyan Islamic Group (a Libyan terrorist group organized in 1995 and aligned with al-Qaeda; seeks to radicalize the Libyan government; attempted to assassinate Qaddafi)

Lord's Resistance Army (a quasi-religious rebel group in Uganda that terrorized and raped women and kidnapped children who were forced to serve in the army)

Loyalist Volunteer Force (a terrorist group formed in 1996 in Northern Ireland; seeks to prevent the peace process; murders Catholics and any Protestant leaders who favor peace)

MAK; Maktab al-Khidmat (a terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden in the 1980s to provide money and recruit fighters around the world; enlisted and transported thousands of men to Afghanistan to fight the Russians; a split in the group led bin Laden and the extremist faction of MAK to form al-Qaeda)

Manuel Rodriquez Patriotic Front (a terrorist group formed in 1983 as the armed wing of the Chilean Communist Party)

Moranzanist Patriotic Front (a terrorist group of radical leftists formed in the late 1980s; seeks to prevent the United States from intervening in Honduran economic and political affairs)

Moro Islamic Liberation Front (a terrorist group in the southern Philippines formed in 1977 to establish an independent Islamic state for the Moros; have clashed with troops at United States bases)

Mujahedeen Kompak (a militant Islamic militia that was formed in 2005 by hardliners who split from Jemaah Islamiyah)

MEK; MKO; Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization; People's Mujahidin of Iran (a terrorist organization formed in the 1960s by children of Iranian merchants; sought to counter the Shah of Iran's pro-western policies of modernization and opposition to communism; following a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam it now attacks the Islamic fundamentalists who deposed the Shah)

CNPZ; ELN; National Liberation Army; Nestor Paz Zamora Commission (a terrorist organization in Bolivia that acts as an umbrella for numerous small indigenous subversive groups; a revival of a group with Marxist-Leninist ideologies originally established by Che Guevara in the 1960s)

ELN; National Liberation Army (a Marxist terrorist group formed in 1963 by Colombian intellectuals who were inspired by the Cuban Revolution; responsible for a campaign of mass kidnappings and resistance to the government's efforts to stop the drug trade)

FLNC; National Liberation Front of Corsica (a terrorist group formed in 1976 to work for Corsican independence; attacks on Corsica are aimed at sabotaging public infrastructure and symbols of colonialism)

New People's Army; NPA (a terrorist organization that is the militant wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines; a Maoist organization formed to overthrow the government; uses hit squads called Sparrow Units; opposes United States military presence in the Philippines)

Orange Group; OV (a terrorist group of Protestants who oppose any political settlement with Irish nationalists; a paramilitary group that attacks Catholic interests in Northern Ireland)

Harakat al-Jihad al-Islami al-Filastini; Palestine Islamic Jihad; Palestinian Islamic Jihad; PIJ (a militant Palestinian terrorist group created in 1979 and committed to the creation of an Islamic state in Palestine and to the destruction of Israel; smaller and more exclusively militant that Hamas)

Jabat al-Tahrir al-Filistiniyyah; Palestine Liberation Front; PLF (a terrorist group formed in 1977 as the result of a split with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; became a satellite of al-Fatah; made terrorist attacks on Israel across the Lebanese border)

Palestinian Hizballah (a little known Palestinian group comprised of members of Hamas and Tanzim with suspected ties to the Lebanese Hizballah; responsible for suicide bombings in Israel)

Pentagon Gang (a Filipino terrorist group that broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2001 in order to continue terrorism and kidnapping and extortion)

PFLP; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (a terrorist group of limited popularity formed in 1967 after the Six-Day War; combined Marxist-Leninist ideology with Palestinian nationalism; used terrorism to gain attention for their cause; hoped to eliminate the state of Israel)

PFLP-GC; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization that conducted several attacks in western Europe)

Popular Struggle Front; PSF (a terrorist group of radical Palestinians who split with al-Fatah in 1967 but now have close relations with al-Fatah; staged terrorist attacks against Israel across the Lebanese border)

15 May Organization (a terrorist organization formed in 1979 by a faction of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine but disbanded in the 1980s when key members left to join a faction of al-Fatah)

PAGAD; People against Gangsterism and Drugs (a terrorist organization in South Africa formed in 1996 to fight drug lords; evolved into a vigilante group with anti-western views closely allied with Qibla; is believed to have ties to Islamic extremists in the Middle East; is suspected of conducting bouts of urban terrorism)

Puka Inti; Red Sun; Sol Rojo (a small but violent terrorist organization formed in Ecuador in the early 1990s; responsible for bombing several government buildings)

Iz Al-Din Al-Qassam Battalions; Qassam Brigades; Salah al-Din Battalions (the military arm of Hamas responsible for suicide bombings and other attacks on Israel)

Qibla (a small terrorist group of Muslims in South Africa formed in the 1980s; was inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini to create an Islamic state in South Africa)

Dissident Irish Republican Army; Real IRA; Real Irish Republican Army; RIRA (a radical terrorist group that broke away in 1997 when the mainstream Provisional IRA proposed a cease-fire; has continued terrorist activities in opposition to any peace agreement)

RAF; Red Army Faction (a Marxist and Maoist terrorist organization in Germany; a network of underground guerillas who committed acts of violence in the service of the class struggle; a successor to the Baader-Meinhof Gang; became one of Europe's most feared terrorist groups; disbanded in 1998)

BR; Brigate Rosse; Red Brigades (a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization that arose out of a student protest movement in the late 1960s; wants to separate Italy from NATO and advocates violence in the service of class warfare and revolution; mostly inactive since 1989)

FARC; Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarios de Colombia; Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (a powerful and wealthy terrorist organization formed in 1957 as the guerilla arm of the Colombian communist party; opposed to the United States; has strong ties to drug dealers)

17 November; Revolutionary Organization 17 November (a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization in Greece that is violently opposed to imperialism and capitalism and NATO and the United States; an active terrorist group during the 1980s)

Revolutionary People's Liberation Front; Revolutionary People's Liberation Party (an extreme Marxist terrorist organization in Turkey that is opposed to NATO and the United States; attacks Turkish security and military officials)

ELA; Revolutionary People's Struggle (an extreme leftist terrorist group formed in Greece in 1971 to oppose the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974; a revolutionary group opposed to capitalism and imperialism and the United States)

NIPR; Revolutionary Proletarian Initiative Nuclei; Revolutionary Proletarian Nucleus (a clandestine group of leftist extremists who oppose Italy's labor policies and foreign policy; responsible for bombing building in the historic center of Rome from 2000 to 2002)

Revolutionary United Front; RUF (a terrorist group formed in the 1980s in Sierra Leone; seeks to overthrow the government and gain control of the diamond producing regions; responsible for attacks on civilians and children, widespread torture and murder and using children to commit atrocities; sponsored by the president of Liberia)

GSPC; Salafast Group for Call and Combat; Salafist Group (an Algerian extremist Islamic offshoot of the Armed Islamic Group; now the largest and most active armed terrorist group in Algeria that seeks to overthrow the government; a major source of support and recruitment for al-Qaeda operations in Europe and northern Africa)

Sendero Luminoso; Shining Path; SL (a terrorist group formed in Peru in the late 1960s as a splinter group from the communist party of Peru; is among the most ruthless guerilla organizations in the world; seeks to destroy Peruvian institutions and replace them with a Maoist peasant regime; is involved in the cocaine trade)

Sipah-e-Sahaba (a vicious sectarian organization in Pakistan that persecutes Shiite Muslims and collaborates with al-Qaeda to attack foreigners and to disrupt the government of Pakistan)

Movement for Revenge; Tareekh e Kasas (an organization of Muslims in India who killed Hindus in September 2002; believed to have ties with Muslim terrorists in Pakistan)

Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Anaru; MRTA; Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (a Marxist-Leninist terrorist organization in Peru; was formed in 1983 to overthrow the Peruvian government and replace it with a Marxist regime; has connections with the ELN in Bolivia)

EGTK; Tupac Katari Guerrilla Army (a terrorist group that is the remnants of the original Bolivian insurgents trained by Che Guevara; attacks small unprotected targets such as power pylons or oil pipelines or government buildings)

Turkish Hizballah (an ethnic Kurdish group of Sunni extremists formed in the late 1980s in southeastern Turkey; seeks to replace Turkey's secular regime with an Islamic state and strict shariah law; responsible for bombings and the torture and murder of Turkish and Kurdish journalists and businessmen; receives support from Iran)

UDA; Ulster Defence Association (the major Protestant paramilitary group in Northern Ireland; responsible for bombing the homes of Catholics and for criminal racketeering and selling drugs)

AUC; Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia; United Self-Defense Force of Colombia; United Self-Defense Group of Colombia (a terrorist organization in Colombia formed in 1997 as an umbrella for local and regional paramilitary groups; is financed by earnings from narcotics and serves to protect the economic interests of its members)

Umma Tameer-e-Nau; UTN (a nongovernmental organization of Pakistani scientists that has been a supporter of terrorism; has provided information about chemical and biological and nuclear warfare to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda and the Taliban)

Counterterrorist Center; CTC (an agency that helps the Director of Central Intelligence coordinate counterterrorist efforts in order to preempt and disrupt and defeat terrorist activities at the earliest possible stage)

mujahadeen; mujahadein; mujahadin; mujahedeen; mujahedin; mujahideen; mujahidin (a military force of Muslim guerilla warriors engaged in a jihad)

Gestapo (the secret state police in Nazi Germany; known for its terrorist methods)

nest (a gang of people (criminals or spies or terrorists) assembled in one locality)

Maffia; Mafia; Sicilian Mafia (a secret terrorist group in Sicily; originally opposed tyranny but evolved into a criminal organization in the middle of the 19th century)

Black Hand (a secret terrorist society in the United States early in the 20th century)

radical cell; terrorist cell (a cell of terrorists (usually 3 to 5 members))

foreign terrorist organization; FTO; terrorist group; terrorist organization (a political movement that uses terror as a weapon to achieve its goals)

hawala (an underground banking system based on trust whereby money can be made available internationally without actually moving it or leaving a record of the transaction)

Dhahran (an oil town in eastern Saudi Arabia on an inlet from the Persian Gulf; in June 1996 terrorists bombed an apartment complex in Dhahran killing 19 United States soldiers and wounding more than 300 people)

air marshal; sky marshal (a person trained by the government in hijacking and terrorist tactics who (for security reasons) is a passenger aboard an airline flight)

cyber-terrorist; cyberpunk (a programmer who breaks into computer systems in order to steal or change or destroy information as a form of cyber-terrorism)

sleeper (a spy or saboteur or terrorist planted in an enemy country who lives there as a law-abiding citizen until activated by a prearranged signal)

suicide bomber (a terrorist who blows himself up in order to kill or injure other people)

terrorist (a radical who employs terror as a political weapon; usually organizes with other terrorists in small cells; often uses religion as a cover for terrorist activities)

Jafar; Jafar Umar Thalib; Jaffar; Jaffar Umar Thalib (Indonesian terrorist and Islamic militant who commands the Laskar Jihad; uses violence to achieve political ends (1965-2000))

Andres Martinez; Carlos; Carlos the Jackal; Glen Gebhard; Hector Hevodidbon; Ilich Ramirez Sanchez; Ilich Sanchez; Michael Assat; Salim; Sanchez; Taurus (Venezuelan master terrorist raised by a Marxist-Leninist father; trained and worked with many terrorist groups (born in 1949))

reign of terror (any period of brutal suppression thought to resemble the Reign of Terror in France)

9-11; 9/11; Sep 11; Sept. 11; September 11 (the day in 2001 when Arab suicide bombers hijacked United States airliners and used them as bombs)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "terrorist act"):

biological terrorism; bioterrorism (terrorism using the weapons of biological warfare)

chemical terrorism (terrorism using the chemical agents of chemical warfare; can undermine the personal security of citizens)

cyber-terrorism; cyberwar (an assault on electronic communication networks)

domestic terrorism (terrorism practiced in your own country against your own people)

eco-warfare; ecological terrorism; ecological warfare; ecoterrorism (violence carried out to further the political or social objectives of the environmentalists)

international terrorism (terrorism practiced in a foreign country by terrorists who are not native to that country)

narcoterrorism (the financing of terrorist activities by participation in the drug trade)

nuclear terrorism (the use of a nuclear device by a terrorist organization to cause massive devastation or the use (or threat of use) of fissionable radioactive materials)

state-sponsored terrorism (terrorism practiced by a government against its own people or in support of international terrorism)

theoterrorism (terrorism for a religious purpose)

terrorist attack (a surprise attack involving the deliberate use of violence against civilians in the hope of attaining political or religious aims)

Instance hyponyms:

Red Hand Defenders; RHD (a paramilitary group of Protestants in Northern Ireland that tries to prevent any political settlement with the Irish Republic; attacks interests of Catholic civilians in Northern Ireland; responsible for arson and bombing and murder)