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| Flechas | |
|---|---|
 The insignia of the Flechas. | |
| Active | 1967–1975 |
| Country | Portugal |
| Allegiance |  Portugal |
| Branch | PIDE |
| Type | Paramilitary |
| Part of | PIDE/DGS |
| Garrison/HQ | Lisbon |
| Engagements | Portuguese Colonial War |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Oscar Cardoso |
The Flechas (Portuguese for Arrows) were an elite paramilitary tactical unit of the Portuguese secret police (PIDE, latter renamed DGS) that operated in Angola and Mozambique during the Portuguese Colonial War. Unlike most of the other Portuguese special forces that were employed in the several theatres of operations of the conflict, the Flechas were not a de jure military unit but a PIDE/DGS (secret police) unit.
Flechas were organized as platoon-sized units consisting of local tribesmen and rebel defectors who specialised in black operation, clandestine operation, close-quarters combat, counterinsurgency, covert operation, desert warfare, direct action, irregular warfare, pseudo-operations, jungle warfare, raiding and kidnapping high-value target, special operations, special reconnaissance, tracking, and urban warfare. They sometimes patrolled in captured uniforms and were rewarded with cash bounties for every guerrilla or guerrilla weapon they captured.
Flechas had a reputation for atrocities, brutality, torture, and summary executions.[1][2]
- ^ Margaret Hall; Tom Young (1997). Confronting Leviathan: Mozambique Since Independence. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-85065-116-1. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ Michael Radu (29 September 2017). The New Insurgencies: Anti-communist Guerrillas in the Third World. Taylor & Francis. pp. 181–. ISBN 978-1-351-47865-6. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
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