Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA); also known as Ushtria Clirimtare E Kosoves (UCK).

The group operated mainly in Kosovo, as well as in parts of Albania and Macedonia. Since the group officially disbanded in 1999, former members have been noted operating in villages along the border with Macedonia.

The KLA fought for an independent Kosovo, though some extremists also wanted to break off part of Macedonia, in order to join with Tirana and form a Greater Albania. The group eventually modified its publicly stated aims, claiming it just sought autonomy from Serbia.

In the early years of its existence, the KLA was composed of dispersed cells. A chain of command existed, and units possessed uniforms, but the KLA avoided a rigid hierarchy. As late as 1998, the KLA was said to have slightly more than 500 members. The group's strength skyrocketed over the next year as combat intensified with Serbia. By 1999, the KLA was said to have as many as 20,000-30,000 members, though not uniformly trained and equipped.

The KLA was supported by Albanians in exile, especially wealthy Europeans. The Swiss-based Albanian-run Levizje Nacional-Clirimtare E Kosoves (LNCK) served as a political and fundraising wing for the KLA.

Organized crime originating out of Albania and northern Macedonia also provided the group with substantial support. Criminal activities involving human smuggling, counterfeiting, prostitution, drug-, cigarette- and gun-running, as well as protection rackets, took in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. Several hundred foreign fighters -- originally from Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen -- may have fought with the KLA against Serbia.

The KLA's early operations included hit-and-run attacks against Serb security forces. The KLA moved on to bombing government buildings and attacking locals considered loyal to the Serb government. By early 1998, the group engaged in regular combat operations with Serb security forces, though the KLA often fared poorly when confronted with superior Serb firepower.

By 1999, the group was conducting combat operations against Yugoslav military forces -- rather than terrorist attacks -- and even assisting allied forces striking Serb military targets during Operation Allied Force, which lasted from March to June of 1999.

Since the group was officially disbanded on Sept. 19, 1999, former members have joined the official Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), as well as other militia groups, including the Albanian National Army (ANA) and the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medveda and Bujanovac (UCPMB).

The KLA was officially founded in 1993, though Albanian groups linked to the movement conducted fundraising and other activities as far back as the 1980s. Its leaders failed to train and cultivate large numbers of fighters capable of waging effective guerrilla and insurgency warfare. The KLA initially targeted police and security forces in hit-and-run operations, government buildings and "collaborators" with Serb authorities.

The group expanded its operations into a full-fledged guerrilla war in the spring of 1998, but too often the KLA allowed itself to engage in pitched battles with Serb forces. A significant turning point in the conflict between ethnic Albanians and Serb authorities in Kosovo took place in February and March of 1998. During this period, Serb forces backed by armored vehicles and helicopters fired indiscriminately at civilians in the Drenica region. Villagers in Cirez, Likosane, Prekaz and Lausha were particularly hard hit, according to Human Rights Watch.

In May-June of 1998, the KLA attempted to seize control of a portion of western Kosovo running from Pec to Djakovica, bringing about a confrontation with the Yugoslav army. When NATO began its Operation Allied Force bombing campaign in 1999, some KLA members acted as forward air controllers for Western pilots. Despite ramped-up operations in 1998, the KLA's arsenal mostly consisted of light arms. By 1999, the group had acquired assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine guns, but it also fielded some World War II-era equipment.

The KLA officially disbanded on Sept. 19, 1999. Former KLA leaders dispersed to join new groups, including the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) headed by Hashim Thaci and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) led by Ramush Haradinaj. The KLA's leader, Gen. Agim Ceku, a former Yugoslav army commander who switched allegiance to fight alongside the Croats in 1995, took over as head of the KPC in 1999.

By 2009, the KLA appeared greatly diminished, although remnants of the organization reportedly were involved in the narcotics trade. Some former members of the KLA have assumed government positions. Much recent attention on the KLA centered on determining how much of the group's former wartime activities included torture and other alleged atrocities.

December: The KLA bombed a municipal court building in Gostivar, Macedonia.

Feb. 26: Albanians linked to the KLA assaulted a settlement in Babaloc, Kosovo, where Serbs and Montenegrins fleeing Albania had set up camp. The attackers used a grenade and automatic weapons.

July 21-25: The KLA conducted a series of three bombings in Kumanovo. On July 21, the group struck a railway and a military barracks. On July 25, the KLA detonated a bomb in the city center, near a crowd of people; no one was injured.

Aug. 17: In the town of Malisevo, Kosovo, the group kidnapped Imer and Emir Morina, local leaders of the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK).

Sept. 20: The KLA kidnapped 13 representatives of the Kosovo-Metohija Albanian political parties near Drenica, Kosovo. The captives were held for two days before the International Committee of the Red Cross helped arrange their release. The abductees were aligned with Ibrahim Rugova and the LDK.

Oct. 19: In a third kidnapping in as many months, the KLA took hostage two reporters with the Yugoslav Tanjug news agency. Nebojsa Radosevic and Vladimir Dobricic were "tried" and sentenced to 60 days in prison, but authorities managed to get them released after only about a month in captivity.

April: Sulejman Selimi, the top KLA military commander since February of 1999, was replaced by Agim Ceku.

Sept. 19: The KLA officially disbanded. Thereafter, many of its fighters joined the ANA and UCPMB militias and the legal KPC.

Dec. 17: Five former KLA members, dubbed the "Dukagjini Group," were sentenced to jail terms for murders committed in 1999.

January: The prosecution and defense presented closing arguments in the Hague trial of Ramush Haradinaj. The prosecution sought a 25-year sentence for each of the defendants. During the trial, several witnesses refused to testify and the prosecution reported cases of witness intimidation.

Feb. 17: Kosovo's Parliament declared independence. While much of the international community recognized Kosovo as independent, Serbia and Russia condemned the formation of the new state.

February: Two northern border posts were destroyed by Serb hardliners following Kosovo's declaration of independence. The lack of full customs enforcement on the Kosovo-Serbia border continued to hamper counterterrorism efforts.

June 15: Kosovo's new constitution went into effect, with the government assuming greater responsibility for civil administration, law enforcement and counterterrorism.

December: The U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) transferred its anti-terrorist responsibilities to the European Union's Rule of Law mission in Kosovo (EULEX).

June 24: Bulgaria arrested Agim Ceku, a former prime minister of Kosovo and KLA commander. Ceku was detained on an Interpol warrant initiated by Serbia, which accused Ceku of war crimes committed in 1998 and 1999 during his tenure with the KLA.

July 14: A woman and a child were injured in a residential bomb attack in the Albanian settlement of Presevo in southern Serbia. Serbia's Interior Ministry opened an investigation of terrorist activity in Serbia following the incident, and arrested three former members of the KLA.