Emergence of tbe Japanese Red Army
the past two and one halfelatively small group of Japanese terrorists, working with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestineas conducted orwith the PFLP in three terrorist operations. These incidents--the Lod Airport massacre inhe Japan Airlines (JAL) hijacking innd the Singaporeinre believed to have been planned by the PFLP and then implemented with the assistance of Japanese radicals operating out of the Middle East. In the recentoperation in the Hague to secure the release of Furuyaapanese Red Army (JRA) comrade heldrench jail, the JRA appears to have acted independently of the PFLP. An interrogation of Furuya led French policeetwprk of JRA members in Paris which was planning attacks on Japanese businessmeniplomat in Germany. In spite, of obvious flaws in the forged documentation carried by JRA members in past operations, JRA terrorists were still able to enter target countries with little, if any, difficulty.
Origin of the Japanese Red Army
Current information fromU.S.
Embassy in Tokyo indicates thatth^JitAna^iTttTesupport from or connection with other terrorist organizations operating in Japan. The JRA is not "red" in the old communistof the word and is not an army in the conventional sense. The JRA has no known ties of any kind with the USSR, China, or the Japanese Communist Party and appears to have little or no appeal to most leftist Japanese youth. Little is knownits ideology other than adherenceorm of world revolution in which the masses will rise up and defeat the existing imperialist governments.
roup calling itself the Red Army emerged in Japan, advocating violent revolution. This organizationwas little different from the approximatelyther radical groups then operating
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have emerged with such names as the Red Army Faction, The United Red Army, The Red Army Guard, The World Red Army, The Red Army Arab Committee and now the -
information indicates that Shigenobu Fusako, currently thought to be the leader of the JRA, made contact with the PFLP In1 she helpedilm called "The PFLP and the Red Army Declare World War." She also appears to have participated in the publicationookThe Arab Guerrillas and the h'qrld Red Army. It is not known whether Shigenobu and her JRA followers initiated contact with the PFLP on their own volition or as the agents of aorganization inside Ji
and two other Japanese radicals were trained and sent by the PFLP into Israel to perpetrate what is now called the Lod Airport massacre in It is likely that the three men were not members of any well-establishedin Japan, but rather individuals who were motivated by the ;oals of the PFLP in combating Israel.
PFLP spokesman in2 readily admitted that the PFLP had trained and dispatched the Japanese terrorists on the Lod mission.
the Lod operation thereew reports that Japanese radicals and the PFLP intended to mount more joint operations. targets were to be airport facilities in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and France. The Japanese reportedly made this agreement with followers of Wadi Haddad, chief of the PFLP's Foreign Operations Committee, but without the knowledge of PFLP leader George Habbash.
Onombined JRA-PFLP groupapan Airlines (JAL)s it departed Amsterdam'sairport. The aircraft finally landed four days later in
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where the terrorists destroyed the jet with explosive
operation tne tour terrorists described themselves as members of the Sons of the Occupied Land(SOLO) working with the JRA. J-
also claimed credit for trie bombingAL office in Bonn, Germany onhe JAL hijacking was the first instance in which the title JRA was linked publicly with the PFLP.
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Several months later the PFLP and the JRA struck again,
this time against the Shell oil refinery on Pulau Bukum Isla
near Singapore. Two PFLP terrorists and two JRA members set
.ire to one oil storage tank and attempted to blow up three
others before seeking to escape from the refineryerry
boat. Shortly after they seized the ferry, the four men
kllniS themselves as members of the Japanese Red Army and tne rrLr.
ress conference the day after theFLPamascus described the operationarning to monopolistic, exploitative oil companies andejection of the Geneva effortseaceful settlement of the Palestine problem. Negotiations between Singapore authorities and the terrorists dragged out for seven days, andebruary fiveerrorists seized the Japanese Embassy in Kuwait and demanded that the four Singapore terrorists be released and tlown by the Japanese government to Kuwait. After the Japanese and Kuwaiti governments agreed to these conditions, the four bingapore terrorists and their five comrades were fl own from
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Japanese Red Amy Activities in Europe
On4 French authorities arrested Furuyaapanese national, for possessing four altered passports and ten thousand dollars in. Federal Reserve notes.
Curiel Apparatus were providing support to the Apparatusaris-based "leftist" organizati
>ers of the jra. The Curielwhich has provided support in the way of training, documentation andassistance to revolutionary and national liberation groups in numerous countries. Financial support for the Curiel group is believed to come from fees it receives for services rendered to the various organizations it assists.
The most important JRA member arrested and interrogated was Takahashi Taketomo, believed to be the chief of the Euro-
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hostages were held fromoeptember, when Dutch iench authorities finally reached an.agreement with the
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JRA Modus Operandi
While there is little information available on the JRA to illustrate definite patterns of operation which could beof irapendingew generalizations can be made on the basis of their past attacks.
Unfortunately no pattern of JRA activities can be obtained by comparing the Lod and Singapore incidents, because the operations were so different. At Lod the task was to kill as many people as possible with automatic weapons and grenades.inimum amount of preparation was necessary. At Singapore, however, the terrorists prepared detailed plansonth in advance.
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Original document.
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