The group mainly operates in the West Bank, but has also claimed responsibility for attacks within Israel and the Gaza Strip.  

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades seeks to drive out Israeli settlers and troops from the occupied territories and Jerusalem. It also seeks the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.  

Unknown, but it is thought to include a few hundred members in multiple cells. U.S. intelligence officials have reported difficulty identifying both leaders and members of the group due to its decentralized power structure. 

Some members of the group are also members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Despite this apparent association, Fatah has not officially backed the group. The group is nonetheless widely seen as a military offshoot of Fatah.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has received some funding from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has close links to Iran. Leader Allah Sanakra told London's Sunday Times in April 2005 that his group was not receiving money from Hezbollah, but had done so in the past. Sanakra also said that he believed that the aid money originated in Iran.

Since its creation in late 2000, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has carried out numerous shootings and suicide bombings against Israelis. It has also targeted Palestinians accused of collaborating with the Israeli government. In January 2002, Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for the first female suicide bombing.

Fatah-linked terrorist groups, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, have claimed responsibility for hundreds of fatal attacks on Israel. In the two-year period between the fall of 2000 and mid-2002, these groups carried out more than 1,500 attacks and attempted attacks, according to the Israeli government.

Initially, the group vowed to target Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank. That changed in March 2002, when the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades expanded its operations, executing a deadly suicide bombing in Jerusalem that left 11 dead. Since then, the group has been blamed for some of the worst attacks during the uprising that began in September 2000.

In March 2002, the group was added to the State Dept.'s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

In October 2005, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Queria announced a program to disarm the brigade by setting up training camps and incorporating its members into the Palestinian Security Forces.

In July 2007, Israel and the Palestinian Authority reached an agreement granting amnesty for 178 brigade members on the condition that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade end all anti-Israeli attacks and join forces in the battle against Hamas. Not all released members complied. 

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades takes its name from Al-Aqsa Mosque located on the holy site in Jerusalem known as the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims and as the TempleMount to Jews. The name also refers to the Palestinian intifada that began in September 2000 after Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary. Palestinians refer to this uprising as the Al-Aqsa intifada.

After Sharon's visit, a group of Fatah-linked militias formed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. The group is said to be inspired by the Lebanese militants in Hezbollah, whose attacks led to the Israeli withdrawal from the security zone in southern Lebanon.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is not an Islamic fundamentalist group and does not seek a strictly Islamic Palestinian state. Although its attacks -- especially the suicide bombings -- resemble those of Islamic terrorist organizations such as Hamas, its ideology is rooted in Palestinian nationalism.

The late Yasser Arafat came under a great deal of criticism because of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He and his advisors denied links with the group, but the Israeli government contended that Arafat backed Al-Aqsa. Some members of the group said they were supported by Fatah and received orders directly from Arafat, while others have stated that operational decisions were made solely within the Al-Aqsa leadership. Although Arafat publicly denounced terrorism, the Al-Aqsa leadership said that he had never approached the group directly to halt its attacks.

Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, did approach Al-Aqsa and several other militant groups when he became president of the Palestinian Authority in early 2005 to try to negotiate a cease-fire with Israel. Al-Aqsa agreed to an extended period of calm if Israel would halt its attacks and release Palestinian prisoners.

To counter Al-Aqsa, Israel has targeted its leadership directly. The group's leader in the West Bank, Raed Karmi, was killed by Israeli forces in an explosion, widely termed an assassination. In April 2002, Israeli forces captured Marwan Barghouti, a Fatah leader accused of being a leader of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. Before Barghouti's arrest, Al-Aqsa claimed him as its leader, a charge Barghouti denied.

The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 greatly curtailed Al-Aqsa activity in the Palestinian enclave. The group continued to fire rockets at Israel, however, perhaps in an attempt to provoke an Israeli invasion. That might, theorized some, allow Fatah forces to re-establish a major presence in Gaza.

Israel invaded the Gaza Strip in late December 2008 and early January 2009, especially targeting Hamas and crippling its capabilities. Hamas, however, maintained control of the Gaza Strip and called for a temporary halt to rocket attacks against Israel. As of this update, Al-Aqsa continues to launch occasional rocket or mortar attacks against Israel.

Jan. 27: A female Al-Aqsa suicide bomber killed one Israeli and wounded 40 in Jerusalem.

March 2: A suicide bomber detonated himself in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem, killing nine Israelis.

March 3: An Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades sniper shot and killed 10 Israelis, including seven soldiers, at a checkpoint in the West Bank. The sniper later escaped.

March 9: A suicide bombing in a Jerusalem cafe left 11 dead and 50 wounded.

March 21: A suicide bombing in Jerusalem killed three Israelis and wounded 86; this prompted the Israeli government to call off peace talks with the Palestinian Authority.

March 23: The U.S. designated the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as a foreign terrorist organization.

March 29: A female suicide bomber blew herself up and killed two others and wounded 28 in a Jerusalem supermarket.

March 30: An Al-Aqsa suicide bombing in Tel Aviv killed one and wounded 30.

April 1: The group issued a statement naming Marwan Barghouti as its leader.

April 12: Six people were killed and 104 wounded by a suicide bomber at an open market in Jerusalem. The brigades claimed responsibility.

April 14: Israeli forces arrested Fatah member Marwan Barghouti and accused him of leading the group.

June 19: A suicide bomber killed seven and injured 37 in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem.

June 24: U.S. President George Bush called for Yasser Arafat's removal after receiving Israeli intelligence reports indicating that Arafat had approved a $20,000 payment to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

November: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was blamed for a shooting spree at an Israel kibbutz that killed five.

March 31: A handful of Al-Aqsa militants shot at Abbas' compound in Ramallah and later rampaged through the city, provoking Abbas to impose a state of emergency in Ramallah and dismiss some top security officials. The Al-Aqsa members were reportedly unhappy at being expelled from the compound after they refused to disarm.

Feb: Al-Aqsa claimed to have cooperated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committee members in foiled attacks on the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip.

March 14: In response to an Israeli raid on a prison in Jericho, members of Al-Aqsa took foreigners hostage and launched an attack on a British cultural center, which was set on fire. The group also threatened Israeli President Moshe Katsav and acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as primary assassination targets.

March 21: Two Palestinian men were charged with, in part, conspiracy to cause death, membership in Al-Qaida and illegal assembly, among other charges. One of the men was said to be a member of Al-Aqsa and Hamas. The men allegedly created an Al-Qaida cell in Nablus and were recruiting and preparing for large-scale attacks in Israel.

March 30: Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing at a West Bank settlement that killed four Israelis.

April: Al-Aqsa released a statement threatening to target Zionists outside Palestine unless Israel released its prisoners.

June: Al-Aqsa declared in a widely distributed leaflet that the group had successfully produced at least 20 different types of chemical and biological weapons. The leaflet warned that the group would load the new weapons on the Kassam rockets they regularly fire at Israeli towns.

Mar. 7: Israeli security forces raided the Palestinian Authority's military intelligence headquarters and seized several wanted men, including Khalil Shilo, an Al-Aqsa member.

June: Hamas militants took full control of the Gaza Strip by routing Al-Aqsa and other forces loyal to Fatah.

June 14: Hamas executed Samih al-Madhoun, an Al-Aqsa commander in the Gaza Strip. His execution was videotaped and posted online.

October: Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on Sderot. It also admitted to using Google Earth's mapping tools to plan rocket attacks.

Nov: Al-Aqsa claimed responsibility for rocket attacks on the southern Israeli towns of Erez and Nativ Ha'asarah. 

May 22: Al-Aqsa, along with Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility for a Palestinian suicide bomber attack on the Erez Israeli border checkpoint between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The truck bomb detonated before reaching the target, killing only the bomber.

June 26: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade fired two rockets into Israel, injuring no one, but prompting Israel to close the border crossings into Gaza. 

Dec. 2: Israeli forces killed a Palestinian member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade as he tried to escape arrest in the West Bank city of Nablus. The suspect was involved in a recent attempted terrorist attack against Israel.

Dec. 27: Israel began a three-week invasion into the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks from Palestinian militant groups, most notably Hamas, but also including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade.

March 19: The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed Israeli airstrikes killed two members in central Gaza. Israel denied launching such an attack.