The United Red Army (連合赤軍, Rengō Sekigun) was a militant organization, that operated in Japan between July 1971 and March 1972. The URA was formed as the result of a merger that began on 13 July 1971 between two extremist groups, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Red Army Faction (赤軍派, Sekigunha), led in 1971 by Tsuneo Mori, and the Reformed Marxist Revolutionary Left Wing group, Japanese Communist Party Kanagawa Prefecture Committee, aka Keihin Anti-Security Treaty Joint Struggle Group (京浜安保共闘, Keihin Anbo Kyoutou) led by Hiroko Nagata. The group intended to disrupt the Japanese political system to enable the emergence of Communism in the state. The URA came to a sudden end with the Asama-Sanso incident, a 9-day siege and hostage situation that occurred at the group’s mountain hide out in the N