N.Ireland dissidents planning more attacks, says Tory MP
A Tory MP and former soldier has told Channel 4 News he fears Republican dissidents in Northern Ireland could be planning an attack on the anniversary of the death of IRA member Bobby Sands.
Patrick Mercer says that following a spate of extremist activity in Northern Ireland, there is reason to believe further attacks are being planned.
On 28 March, police in Londonderry found a 110lb (50kg) bomb outside the city’s courthouse hidden in a beer keg. Five days later, Ronan Kerr, a Catholic constable in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, was killed when a bomb exploded under his car. And on Saturday, police discovered a 500lb (225kg) bomb in a van on the main Belfast to Dublin Road.
No group has claimed responsibility for the bombs or the murder of PC Kerr as yet, but there are suspicions Real IRA splinter group Oglaigh Na Heireann were involved.
Mr Mercer, Conservative MP for Newar, as former soldier and chair of the Commons sub-committee on counter-terrorism, told Channel 4 News that he fears dissident groups will plan attacks in the coming weeks to coincide with major events in both the Northern Ireland religious calendar and days considered significant by republicans.
“These latest attacks and incidents say to me that there should be a very real concern that these people are planning more attacks in Northern Ireland, and given that there have been three major incidents in less than three weeks, I expect more to come,” Mr Mercer, who served nine tours in the North with the Sherwood Foresters Regiment during the Troubles, said.
On 5 May it will be 30 years since the death of IRA member Sands, who died in the prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking in 1981. Mr Mercer said that given Sands’s significance in the republican narrative and the politically-charged nature the anniversary, dissidents will “most likely” be planning an attack.
The people who carried out PC Kerr’s murder and the bomb plots should either be killed or captured. These lethal criminals should face the full force of the law. Patrick Mercer MP
“Look at what the old provisionals (provisional IRA) used to do, and you’ll have a good idea as to what this new breed of terrorists has in mind. To gain the best publicity for their cause, they will target iconic events and VIPs. I suspect that the anniversary of Bobby Sands’ death will be seen as an opportunity to strike again,” he said.
“There are also big events coming up on the republican timetable which they will no doubt seek to exploit. You don’t have to be an Archbishop to figure out the significance of Easter to republican dissidents.”
However, Mr Mercer said he did not believe attacks on mainland Britain were a realistic possibility at present, despite Mi5 announcing last year they are a ‘strong possibility’.
“There is always an undercurrent of talk that these people are devising attacks on mainland Britain, but at this stage I think these are only ambitions. Clearly, with the involvement of the old provisionals in these splinter groups, the possibility that there will be a terrorist attack on mainland Britain is heightened, but their resources and organisational skills do not appear to be developed enough at present.”
Last week, Professor Max Taylor of The Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), told Channel 4 News that attacks on the mainland were a possibilty, saying that the sophisticated device used to kill PC Kerr was evidence of dissidents’ capabilities.
“This attack is very different and unusual from the others that have gone before it recently: it is clear that Northern Ireland’s dissents have become more powerful and noisier. It is also clear that older, more experienced provisionals are involved. That means they know where the arms are and also know how to use them, i.e. to make bombs,” he said.
Last week, police investigating the murder of PC Kerr arrested two men – one in Northern Ireland and another in Scotland – as well as a arms haul in east Tyrone, which ioncluded Kalashnikov rifles, rocket launcher components and possibly Semtex explosive. Political leaders from both sides of the Irish border attended the funeral, including Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) First Minister Peter Robinson, who became the leader of his party to attend a Catholic Mass, Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny. His death, along with the discovery of the bombs followed similar incidents in the past few years, including the murders of two soldiers at an Antrim Army base and a PSNI officer, both in 2009.
Mr Mercer told Channel 4 News: “The people who carried out PC Kerr’s murder and the bomb plots should either be killed or captured. These lethal criminals should face the full force of the law.”