The Al-Shams (Bengali: আল শামস) was a paramilitary wing of several Islamist parties in East Pakistan composed of local Bengalis and Biharis that along with the Pakistan Army and the Al-Badr, is accused of conducting a mass killing campaign against Bengali nationalists, civilians, religious and ethnic minorities during 1971. The group was banned by the independent government of Bangladesh, but most of its members had fled the country during and after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, which led to Bangladesh's independence.