TERROR IN LONDON: THE FAR RIGHT: A GUIDE TO THE GROUPS WHO THRIVE ON HATE

WHITE WOLVES

Claimed responsibility for Friday night's bombing in Soho within a couple of hours of the attack. Also said it planted the Brixton and Brick Lane devices.

A breakaway group from Combat 18, its members probably number no more than half a dozen. The group, which has links with US neo-Nazi groups, is named after a Serbian terrorist group which has been targeting Albanians in Kosovo, prompting speculation that its attacks are copycat "purges".

Last year it issued a document urging its members to start a race war and giving information about bomb timers and detonators. Recently sent death threats to high-profile members of Jewish, black and Asian communities, warning that they would face "extermination" if they failed to leave the British Isles before the end of the year. They read: "When the clocks strike midnight on the 31st of December 1999 the White Wolves will begin to howl, and when the Wolves begin to howl the Wolves begin to hunt. You have been warned. Hail Britannia."

WHITE LIGHTNING

Little is known about this group but it has only come to public attention since the Brixton bomb two weeks ago. Responsible for race-hate leaflets distributed in Brixton last week.

COMBAT 18

Emerged from a "self-defence" organisation for the League of St George, a white supremacist group. Later dubbed itself Combat 18 (from the alphabet position of Hitler's initials) and was led by Paul "Charlie" Sargent, currently serving a life sentence for killing a fellow member. The group raises money through drug-dealing and selling white supremacist rock music. One of Britain's most notorious extremist groups, which urges its members to attack racial and sexual minorities. Its claim of responsibility for the Brixton bombing was initially played down because it was thought the group had been successfully infiltrated. A Scotland Yard investigation concluded that Combat 18 was incapable of carrying out a sustained race terror campaign and its membership was thought to be no more than a couple of dozen.

NATIONAL SOCIALIST ALLIANCE

Tiny splinter group, formed after a split within Combat 18, following Sargent's imprisonment.

NATIONAL FRONT

Most significant far-right group since Mosley's Blackshirts in the 1930s. Thrived in aftermath of Enoch Powell's "Rivers of Blood" speech. Split in 1982. Almost all far-right groups trace their origins back to the NF. Now of little significance.

BRITISH NATIONAL PARTY

Easily the largest group (although still tiny), led by former NF leader John Tyndall,who advocated a turn to "constitutional" politics. Many members left to join overtly violent groups such as Combat 18.

In the early 1990s the BNP's Derek Beackon was briefly an elected Tower Hamlets councillor. Its current Euro election campaign is being overseen by Tony Lecomber, who was convicted of bombing a left-wing bookshop in North London.

BLOOD AND HONOUR

A "fan club" for devotees of heavy metal music, sometimes described as "white power punk". Promoted at various neo-Nazi punk and skinhead events, and now a profitable record label. Publications are filled with Nazi imagery.

INTERNATIONAL THIRD POSITION

Dedicated to the destruction of Israel and compulsory repatriation of ethnic minorities. Influenced more by Mussolini than Hitler. Mixes racist propaganda with environmentalism. Believed to have links with terrorist groups throughout Europe. Its guru, Roberto Fiori, is currently wanted by the Italian police for suspected involvement in terrorist activities.

JANE HUGHES