Red Hand Commandos

From Free net encyclopedia

The Red Hand Commando are a Northern Ireland loyalist paramilitary (terrorist) group with links to the Ulster Volunteer Force. The RHC was formed in 1972 in the Shankill area of West Belfast and had a lot of support in South Belfast [Sandy Row],East Belfast, and also parts of County Down. The group was declared illegal in 1973. The RHC was part of the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC). The Loyalist Retaliation and Defence Group (LRDG) was believed to be associated with the RHC. The UVF and Red Hand Commando supported the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and maintained a ceasefire from 1994 until the autumn of 2005. The 1998 agreement brokered a deal between the (largely Protestant) loyalists who wish to remain part of the United Kingdom and the minority (largely Catholic) nationalists who wish to become part of a United Ireland.

According to the Sutton database of deaths at the University of Ulster's CAIN project [1], the RHC have killed 13 people, including 12 civilians and one of its own members.