GRAPO was founded with the primary goal of overthrowing the Spanish government and replacing it with a communist state.

GRAPO is estimated to have a relatively small number of members, possibly no more than 50. Following arrests and prosecutions by authorities, that number may be closer to two dozen.

GRAPO's involvement with other organizations is limited. The group has been suspected of having links to Germany's Red Army and Italy's Red Brigades.

The Revolutionary Perspective, a terrorist group that operated for a short period in 2000, claimed responsibility for a handful of minor bomb attacks, but no fatalities. Its limited scale of operations suggested that the organization may have been a cover for GRAPO members.

GRAPO has focused its activities in urban areas. The group has engaged in bombings, murders and kidnappings. Funding is provided by extortion and bank robberies. As of May 2009, at least 87 deaths have been attributed to GRAPO.

The First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group (GRAPO) emerged during the transition following the death of Spain's dictator Gen. Francisco Franco. The group was created in 1975 as the armed wing of the outlawed Communist Party of Spain-Reconstituted, which endorsed a Maoist ideology. Members of GRAPO aimed to create a Marxist state. After Franco's death, Spain adopted a parliamentary democracy. Three years later, Spain made a transition to a parliamentary monarchy.

GRAPO has remained committed to the creation of a Marxist state. The group has engaged in terrorist activity to oppose Spain's membership in NATO. In addition to its attacks against the Spanish government, GRAPO has been intensely anti-U.S., specifically objecting to the presence of U.S. military bases on Spanish territory. The group has attacked American targets. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S., GRAPO publicly supported those terrorist acts.

The apparent strength of GRAPO has weakened over the past decade, with members arrested in both Spain and France. Despite outspoken support for the 9/11 terror attacks, GRAPO itself conducted few, if any, operations in the early 2000s. Some authorities suspected the group was defunct, but several attacks in 2006 demonstrated that several violent members or affiliates were operating in Europe.

Following those attacks, Spain implemented a major crackdown on the group. GRAPO has been largely dormant since then.

The First of October group is designated on the U.S. State Dept.'s Terrorist Exclusion List.

Aug. 2: The group's first terror attack resulted in the deaths of two members of the Spanish Civil Guard in Madrid.

Nov. 9: Seven suspected GRAPO members were detained by police in Paris, France -- including leader Manuel Perez Martinez; the head of central command operations, Jose Felipe Lopez; and chief of military networks, Fernando Silva Sande.

November: GRAPO members assassinated a Spanish policeman. The killing may have been a reprisal for the arrest of several GRAPO leaders in France.

March: The group's political wing, the Reconstituted Communist Party of Spain (PCE/R), was outlawed. This was the first time that Spain's judicial system attested to GRAPO and PCE/R as a single entity.

June: Seven GRAPO members, including four leaders, were sentenced to various prison terms in France.

July: GRAPO's long-time leader was sentenced to 10 years in prison. GRAPO did not mount a successful terrorist attack in 2003, marking the second consecutive year without a significant incident. In 2002 and 2003, Spanish and French authorities hampered the organization's activities through a series of arrests, including apprehending some of its leaders.

June: Spanish police claimed they had effectively "decapitated" the leadership of the remaining elements of GRAPO with the arrest of three key suspects. Police detained Juan Garcia Martin, the suspected leader of the group, during a raid in northeastern Spain. Garcia Martin allegedly participated in an attack on a bank in Castellon in February 2006.

July: An offshoot group, suspected of being connected to GRAPO, conducted two attacks on Spanish interests in Zurich, Switzerland. One explosive device was left at the entrance to the Spanish consulate and another was placed at the Spanish Tourism Office; little damage was reported in either attack.