Here are five of the most active terrorist groups. These are not the only groups that use bombings, intimidation, assassination and threats to achieve their goals but are among the most well known and described by the US State Department as the most dangerous.

ABU NIDAL ORGANIZATION

Description: An international group that split for the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1974.

Activities: The group has carried out attacks in 20 countries, killing and injuring more than 900 people. Major incidents include assaults on the Rome and Vienna airports in December 1985, the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Istanbul and the Pam am Flight 73 hijacking in Karachi in September 1986.

Strength: Several hundred plus militia in Lebanon.

HAMAS

Description: The Islamic resistance movement was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, seeking to establish an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel.

Activities: Hamas activists have conducted many attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets.

Strength: Unknown number of hard-core members, tens of thousands of supporters and sympathizers.

HEZBOLLAH

Description: The "Party of God" is a radical Shia group formed in Lebanon, dedicated to the creation of an Iranian -style Islamic republic in Lebanon and the removal of all non-Islamic influences from the area. The group is strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. It is closely allied with Iran and often directed by Iran but may have conducted rogue operations not approved by the Iranian government.

Activities: Known or suspected to be involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the US Embassy and the US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983. Some members of the group were also responsible for kidnapping and detaining American and other Western hostages in Lebanon.

Strength: Several thousand.

POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE - GENERAL COMMAND

Description: Split in 1968 from the Marxist-Leninist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, because it wanted to focus more on fighting and less on politics. The group is violently opposed to Yasser Arafat's PLO. It is closely allied with Syria.

Activities: Has carried out numerous cross-border attacks into Israel using unusual means, such as hot-air balloons and motorized hang gliders.

AUM SUPREME TRUTH

Description: A cult established in 1987 by Shoko Asahara. The group aims to take over Japan and then the world.

Activities: In March 1995, the groups members carried six packages onto Tokyo subway trains and punctured the packages with umbrella tips, releasing deadly sarin gas that killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000.

Strength: Its current strength is unknown. At the time of the subway attacks that group claimed to have 9,000 members in Japan.

Courtesy KRT Telegram-Tribune Feb. 21, 1998.

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