<a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=AG">Algeria</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=EG">Egypt</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=FR">France</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=GM">Germany</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=IT">Italy</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=LE">Lebanon</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=MO">Morocco</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=NL">Netherlands</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=SP">Spain</a>, <a href="terrorist_organizations_by_country.asp?id=UK">United Kingdom</a>

Takfir Wa Hjira, whose name means "rejection of sins and exodus" in English, is regarded as one of the most fundamentalist of the Islamist groups operating today. Claims differ as to the origin of the group. Some suggest that the group was founded in the early 1970s in Egypt under the leadership of Mustafa Shukri. In Egypt, the group targeted secular institutions such as cafes as well as government ministers, and set up a commune in the desert to separate themselves from Egyptian society. Others assert that Takfir Wa Hjira grew out of the al-Zawahiri faction of the early 1980s split in Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), a claim that fits with evidence that Takfir members were involved in the EIJ-linked 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat. Official Dutch government reports claim that Takfir is now under the guidance of a UK-based Palestinian, "Caliph" Abdallah al-Rifai.  <P><br />Takfir Wa Hijra is best analyzed as a pan-Islamic religious sect or cult, whose membership allegedly includes al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Iraqi terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, rather than an organized terrorist group. Its members, who reportedly can never leave the sect once joining, attempted to assassinate Usama bin Laden in 1995 in Sudan for his "liberal" views.

Takfir Wa Hjira, whose membership includes Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians, Lebanese and other Arabs, operates throughout the Arab and Muslim world and also has cells in Europe. The group suffered a setback in 1999 and 2000 when Syria-backed Lebanese troops crushed one of its strongholds in northern Lebanon, capturing and killing a number of its members. Authorities in a number of Arab countries have arrested members of the group, however Takfir Wa Hjira remains active, and has recently been linked to the November 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh. Moroccan sources have asserted that Takfir members in Morocco have formed an operational alliance with the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) in neighboring Algeria.