From the start of 2011 to the present, armed factions linked to certain political parties have engaged in the targeted killings of their opponents.

It is a radical Islamic faction linked to a number of plots in Lebanon and Jordan.

Israeli leaders, accusing a faction linked to Yasir Arafat, said they would prohibit a Palestinian delegation from attending a London conference intended to encourage reform within the Palestinian leadership.

The group is a pro-Indian faction, linked to the so-called counter-insurgents (paramilitaries).

However, Israel said he orchestrated many of the attacks by Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction linked to Fatah.

Following the suicide attacks in Tel Aviv last Sunday, which killed 22 people, the Israelis blamed a faction linked to Mr. Arafat.

Responsibility for their abduction was claimed by the Abu al-Rish Brigades, a small faction loosely linked to Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement, according to Palestinian security officials.

The Party of God, which has repeatedly denied involvement in taking hostages, is often described as the power base of clandestine factions linked to Iran.

Mr. Aden counts as an associate Aden Hashi Ayro, a young military commander trained in Afghanistan who leads a faction linked to a string of assassinations.

However, in March, following a takeover of the Taliban by a hard-line faction linked to bin Laden, the extraordinarily beautiful 5th-century Buddhist statues in Bamiyan were destroyed with dynamite.