BORDER ALERT FOR IRA GANG
Border alert for IRA gang
GARDA have stepped up anti-terrorist activity beside the Ulster border following reports that dissident members of paramilitary groups may be planning fresh violence in a bid to sabotage the Northern Ireland peace process.
The move - directed by Commissioner Pat Byrne, head of the Garda Siochana - has led to extra armed units operating in areas of Co Louth and Co Monaghan.
The reinforcement of police personnel in the region is understood to have been prompted by suggestions that hardline republican activists who continue to resist peace process developments in Northern Ireland might be about to band together to launch Garda steps up patrols as new attacks feared fresh terrorist strikes there.
It is thought that the dissidents could be aiming to mount attacks under the label of the Continuity IRA, the alleged military wing of the Republican Sinn Fein political group.
A number of leading Republican Sinn Fein figures were arrested by police two months ago after the party's annual conference and quizzed about the Continuity IRA before being released without charge.
It is believed that supporters of the Real IRA - the paramilitary organisation responsible for the Omagh bomb outrage in August that claimed 29 lives and injured more than 200 people - could be involved in the renewed threats to the peace deal struck on Good Friday by the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political leaders.
The Real IRA declared a ceasefire soon after the Omagh incident, leaving the Continuity IRA as the only group still to announce a cessation of their activities.
GARDA have stepped up anti-terrorist activity beside the Ulster border following reports that dissident members of paramilitary groups may be planning fresh violence in a bid to sabotage the Northern Ireland peace process.
The move - directed by Commissioner Pat Byrne, head of the Garda Siochana - has led to extra armed units operating in areas of Co Louth and Co Monaghan.
The reinforcement of police personnel in the region is understood to have been prompted by suggestions that hardline republican activists who continue to resist peace process developments in Northern Ireland might be about to band together to launch Garda steps up patrols as new attacks feared fresh terrorist strikes there.
It is thought that the dissidents could be aiming to mount attacks under the label of the Continuity IRA, the alleged military wing of the Republican Sinn Fein political group.
A number of leading Republican Sinn Fein figures were arrested by police two months ago after the party's annual conference and quizzed about the Continuity IRA before being released without charge.
It is believed that supporters of the Real IRA - the paramilitary organisation responsible for the Omagh bomb outrage in August that claimed 29 lives and injured more than 200 people - could be involved in the renewed threats to the peace deal struck on Good Friday by the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's political leaders.
The Real IRA declared a ceasefire soon after the Omagh incident, leaving the Continuity IRA as the only group still to announce a cessation of their activities.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/149
Published Date: 15-Dec-98
Related Images
There have been no images archived for this article.