Formed in 1975, mainly from disaffected members of the IRA unhappy at the ceasefire. The INLA is a relatively small group. Before calling its ceasefire its attacks seemed to come in waves.
At times in its history the INLA has operated in concert with other republican groups - three of the 10 republican hunger strikers who died in 1981 were in the INLA. It had the reputation of being extreme, even among republican militants.
The INLA first gained national attention when it placed the under-car bomb which killed Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman Airey Neave at the House of Commons in 1979.
The group also was responsible for the murder of leading loyalist paramilitary Billy Wright inside the Maze Prison on 27 December 1997. The killing sparked off a cycle of loyalist violence which lasted for several weeks. In August 1998, in the wake of the Omagh bomb, the group called its own ceasefire. It was recognised in April, 1999.
