State-supported international terrorism

Terrorists receive refuge and both indirect and direct support from their own or a sponsoring government. Assistance may include international transportation, false identity papers, training, weapons, money and other support within a host country, or abroad through its embassies or agents.

Terrorists who attempted to assassinate the Pope had links to Bulgaria. In Poland governmental employees murdered a priest. In the Middle East and North Africa, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya export terrorists. Cuba has been providing mercenaries to fight overseas and also been linked to the terrorist network. Until Israel's invasion of Lebanon, that country was serving as a major training and organizational centre for a spectrum of international terrorist groups. The KGB and former Communist governments in Hungary and Czechoslovakia sheltered terrorists attacking western targets. Former East Germany sheltered members of the West German terrorist group, the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof gang). 1,000 tons of Semtex explosive provided by the former Czechoslovakian government to Libyan leader, Colonel Gadhafi, was passed on to the Irish Republican Army and to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The intelligence agencies of the superpowers have also been linked to terrorist, covert actions. The CIA admits it has recruited terrorists.