Dissident republican death squads now have crucial detonators allowing them to set off massive car bombs during the festive shopping spree, a well-informed police source has told Tribune. Police in Northern Ireland are warning about the severe level of threat posed by dissident republicans, especially Oglaigh na hEireann, which has been responsible for a number of bomb attacks this year.
This backs the assertion by leading Policing Board member and Ulster Unionist leadership contender Basil McCrea that dissident republicans now have 97 per cent of the Provisionals’ “technical terrorist capacity”. Mr McCrea, who represents the liberal wing of the UUP, is Assembly member for Lagan Valley. He said: “There is a determined threat from dissident republican elements and it is important as a society that all sections of the community realise this. We must work together to ensure that these elements do not destabilise our future. The only way to see off this threat is through a change of mindset; it is not about arms.”
The police would not be drawn on security speculation that the detonators acquired by dissident republican terrorists came from the Middle East and were of a type used by Islamic radicals from Hamas or Islamic Jihad.
A spokesman for Oglaigh na hEireann said its campaign would not end until the Stormont Assembly is smashed. He said his organisation is devising a three to four-year campaign rather than a “long war” strategy. “Initially, Oglaigh na hEireann had a core of people who were at the wrong scale of things – that is, in their 30s to 50s. Half our membership is now young people who are told to stay away from public activities, such as protests.”
Fears about dissident republican activity came amid a significant by-election victory in the Irish Republic. Sinn Fein won another seat in the Dail in what was traditionally safe political territory in Donegal for Fianna.
If the general election, expected to be called early next year, results in a hung parliament, Sinn Fein could well hold the balance of power, especially if party president Gerry Adams takes the Sinn Fein seat in County Louth.
