A FANATIC WHO WILL KILL AND KILL AGAIN
A fanatic who will kill and kill again
by DERIC HENDERSON,
PA NEWS
THE MAN suspected of ordering the Omagh bombing atrocity is an out of control republican fanatic who is prepared to kill again and again to try to end the Northern Ireland peace process, say security sources.
One told PA News: "He is a ruthless, uncompromising bastard who has no qualms about what he is doing."
He is the man who formed the self-styled Real IRA after breaking away from the Provisionals late last year in a major fall-out over his opposition to the peace strategy of Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
At one time he was one of the IRA's top men, the organisation's quartermaster in charge of all the explosives and arms hideouts on both sides of the Irish border.
He is a middle-aged businessman, separated from his wife and living in Co Louth with a woman who belongs to a Belfast republican family. She, too, is vehemently opposed to Sinn Fein's involvement in peace process.
The pair are well known to police on both sides of the border. Some time ago a leading member of Sinn Fein met him face to face, but failed to persuade him to end his go-it-alone campaign, Northern Ireland security sources said today.
One claimed: "He is prepared to do anything - and I mean anything. He is his own man, who isn't prepared to listen.
"He has no feelings because he believed the war, as he knew it, should not have stopped. He holds the view that the IRA got where they are through sheer unmitigated force. So why should they stop now when they can keep putting the pressure on the British?"
The Real IRA (RIRA) is referred to by some mainstream republicans as the "Surreal IRA" and in Dundalk, where some of its 100-plus members are based, tensions between the two sides are high.
The Omagh bombing is bound to heighten that level of ill-feeling and hostility and deepen the divisions between the two sides.
Over the last 12 months, car bombs have wrecked streets in the towns of Markethill, Moira, Portadown, Newtownhamilton and a fortnight ago, Banbridge. Some were the work of another dissident republican group known as the Continuity IRA, but it is this faction, headed by the former quartermaster, which has emerged as by far the deadliest.
He has been a terrorist for nearly 25 years and was once associated with a notorious IRA leader from South Armagh.
Disaffected Provisionals switched their allegiance to him and their numbers are growing, although not as rapidly as they did when he first broke away last November.
Many are young and inexperienced, which probably explains why police and Special Branch officers in the Irish Re-public have managed to thwart a number of cross-border bombing missions. They also disrupted two attempts by the group to stage a bombing blitz in UK and in another operation, foiled a bomb plot in London.
There have been claims that the arrests were the result of intelligence tip-offs by the Provisionals, who fear the group has the potential to wreck the developing peace process.
But Unionists believe it to be the other way around and that IRA men officially on ceasefire have been turning a blind eye to the dissidents' activities to keep the pressure on the Blair government.
They also want to know why a terrorist with such a public profile has not been arrested. Security sources said today they must have every available scrap of evidence before they can make any move.
Irish Premier Bertie Ahern has pledged to "ruthlessly suppress" terrorist organisations, but with many nervous Unionists preparing to take their seats in the new Northern Ireland Assembly next month, the security forces on both sides of the border are under enormous pressure to move against the group.
by DERIC HENDERSON,
PA NEWS
THE MAN suspected of ordering the Omagh bombing atrocity is an out of control republican fanatic who is prepared to kill again and again to try to end the Northern Ireland peace process, say security sources.
One told PA News: "He is a ruthless, uncompromising bastard who has no qualms about what he is doing."
He is the man who formed the self-styled Real IRA after breaking away from the Provisionals late last year in a major fall-out over his opposition to the peace strategy of Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
At one time he was one of the IRA's top men, the organisation's quartermaster in charge of all the explosives and arms hideouts on both sides of the Irish border.
He is a middle-aged businessman, separated from his wife and living in Co Louth with a woman who belongs to a Belfast republican family. She, too, is vehemently opposed to Sinn Fein's involvement in peace process.
The pair are well known to police on both sides of the border. Some time ago a leading member of Sinn Fein met him face to face, but failed to persuade him to end his go-it-alone campaign, Northern Ireland security sources said today.
One claimed: "He is prepared to do anything - and I mean anything. He is his own man, who isn't prepared to listen.
"He has no feelings because he believed the war, as he knew it, should not have stopped. He holds the view that the IRA got where they are through sheer unmitigated force. So why should they stop now when they can keep putting the pressure on the British?"
The Real IRA (RIRA) is referred to by some mainstream republicans as the "Surreal IRA" and in Dundalk, where some of its 100-plus members are based, tensions between the two sides are high.
The Omagh bombing is bound to heighten that level of ill-feeling and hostility and deepen the divisions between the two sides.
Over the last 12 months, car bombs have wrecked streets in the towns of Markethill, Moira, Portadown, Newtownhamilton and a fortnight ago, Banbridge. Some were the work of another dissident republican group known as the Continuity IRA, but it is this faction, headed by the former quartermaster, which has emerged as by far the deadliest.
He has been a terrorist for nearly 25 years and was once associated with a notorious IRA leader from South Armagh.
Disaffected Provisionals switched their allegiance to him and their numbers are growing, although not as rapidly as they did when he first broke away last November.
Many are young and inexperienced, which probably explains why police and Special Branch officers in the Irish Re-public have managed to thwart a number of cross-border bombing missions. They also disrupted two attempts by the group to stage a bombing blitz in UK and in another operation, foiled a bomb plot in London.
There have been claims that the arrests were the result of intelligence tip-offs by the Provisionals, who fear the group has the potential to wreck the developing peace process.
But Unionists believe it to be the other way around and that IRA men officially on ceasefire have been turning a blind eye to the dissidents' activities to keep the pressure on the Blair government.
They also want to know why a terrorist with such a public profile has not been arrested. Security sources said today they must have every available scrap of evidence before they can make any move.
Irish Premier Bertie Ahern has pledged to "ruthlessly suppress" terrorist organisations, but with many nervous Unionists preparing to take their seats in the new Northern Ireland Assembly next month, the security forces on both sides of the border are under enormous pressure to move against the group.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/034
Published Date: 17-Aug-98
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