Irish National Liberation Army

Guerrilla organization committed to the end of British rule in Northern Ireland and Irish reunification. The INLA, founded in 1974, is a left-wing offshoot of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Among its activities was the killing of British politician Airey Neave in 1979. The INLA initially rejected the IRA's call for a ceasefire in 1994; its assassination in 1997 of loyalist leader Billy Wright threatened to destabilize the peace process and bomb attacks occurred in London in 1998. However, after the Omagh bomb atrocity in 1998 the INLA became the first republican subversive group to state explicitly that the war was over and voice strong support for the peace process.

The INLA has repeatedly been devastated by internecine feuds. In 1987 alone, 13 members were killed in a vendetta between rival factions. Its leader, Gino Gallagher, was shot and killed in Belfast in January 1996 by feuding INLA members.