This is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971.
The UDA's declared goal was to defend Loyalist areas from attack and to combat Irish republican paramilitaries.
[1] It used the name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) when it wished to claim responsibility for its attacks and avoid political embarrassment, as the UDA was a legal organisation for much of its history.
[2][3] The UFF usually claimed that those targeted were Provisional Irish Republican Army members or IRA sympathizers.
[5] However, during 1972 the organisation openly claimed responsibility for several gun and bomb attacks using the UDA title.