Key statistics

1974
First Recorded Activity

First Attack

Profile Last Updated

How to Cite

Crenshaw, M., & Robinson, K. (2025). Mapping Militants Project. Rice University. https://doi.org/10.25613/G0K4-WF70
Mapping Militants Project. “Irish National Liberation Army.” Last modified . https://mappingmilitants.org/node/398/

Profile Contents

Narrative

Narrative of the Organization's History

Organization

Leadership, Name Changes, Size Estimates, Resources, Geographic Locations

Strategy

Ideology, Aims, Political Activities, Targets, and Tactics

Interactions

Foreign Designations and Listings, Community Relations, Relations with Other Groups, State Sponsors and External Influences

Maps

Mapping relationships with other militant groups over time in regional maps

Main Tabs Group

Overview
Formed: 
January 1, 1974
Disbanded: 
January 1, 2009

The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) was a socialist paramilitary group that served as the armed wing of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). INLA sought to unify Ireland as a socialist republic independent from the United Kingdom. Many of the group's founders were former members of the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), one of the two main Catholic paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland seeking Irish independence, who did not support a ceasefire OIRA declared in 1972. INLA targeted mostly British and local security forces, though one of its most famous actions was the December 1997 killing of a Protestant paramilitary leader in prison, and the group also killed a large number of civilians. The group declared a ceasefire in 1998 and formally renounced violence in 2009, saying it could now achieve its goals through peaceful means.

Organization

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Strategy

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Interactions

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