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The US has seen an "explosion" in the number of extremist groups and armed militias which advocate radical anti-government doctrines and conspiracy theories, a recent report has found.
The number of active "Patriot" groups nearly tripled last year to 512 from 149 in 2008, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks the activities of hate groups.
Some 127 of those groups were paramilitary militias, up from 42 a year earlier. "We saw a real explosion in militias and the larger anti-government patriot movement," said Mark Potok, who directs the group's Intelligence Report.
"This is a movement that sees the government as the primary enemy and is completely eaten up with all kinds of conspiracy theories," Potok said in a video accompanying the report published Tuesday. "They really believe the government is part of an evil scheme to do in Americans."
"There's a great deal of anger and frustration and that is being channeled sometimes by conspiracy theories or by scapegoating certain groups into this kind of rage we are seeing all across the country."