DISSIDENT IRA GROUPS
DISSIDENT IRA GROUPS
RlRA's bloody history
ON August 15,1998, the name of the Real IRA was beamed across the world as they brutally murdered 29 people in a bomb attack in the centre of Omagh. The slaughter in the Co Tyrone market town "irreparably damaged the Irish Republican struggle", according to statements released by senior Real IRA men in Portlaoise jail last week. That attack in Omagh followed a series of attacks in towns and villages across Ulster.
Two weeks earlier, a 500lb car bomb devastated the centre of Banbridge. Hundreds of shoppers had been evacuated just moments before the blast. And in February that year, the centres of Portadown and Moira were wrecked by Real IRA bombs.
In the wake of the Omagh bomb, the group - which had split from the Provisional IRA in October 1997 - announced a ceasefire.
But it was not long before their terror campaign re-started. They often worked alongside fellow dissidents in the Continuity IRA, as they had done in the build-up to the Omagh bomb. Their terror activities included:
A bomb attack on Mahon's Hotel, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, in February 2000.
Soon after, a fully primed rocket launcher was discovered close to a military base in Dungannon, Co Tyrone. The Real IRA was believed to
have been behind that abandoned attack, and, in the same month, a device was found at the perimeter of Ebrington barracks in Derry.
Their attacks moved to Britain in June 2000 with a bomb on Hammersmith Bridge in London.
Later that month explosives were discovered in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle, the official residence of the Secretary of State.
In July 2000 they were behind a car bomb attack on Stewartstown RUC station in Co Tyrone and a bomb attack on the railway line near Acton, west London.
In September 2000 a soldier escaped unhurt when an 80lb bomb failed to explode at a military site at Magilligan, Co Derry.
In the same month the Real IRA launched an audacious rocket attack on M16 headquarters in London.
In March 2001 they were behind a bomb attack on BBC TV Centre, London. That attack was seen as revenge for a Panorama programme which named men believed to have been connected to the Omagh bombing.
Real IRA attacks in Britain continued in August 2001 when a bomb exploded outside a packed pub in Ealing Broadway in west London. And three months later a car bomb containing about 30kg of home made explosives was planted in Birmingham city centre.
The group was behind a booby-trap bomb attack at Caw territorial army camp near Derry which killed a civilian contractor, David Caldwell, in August this year. A mortar attack on a police patrol car in Downpatrick.
And in September the police stopped a car carrying two Real IRA under-car booby-trap bombs across the border into south Armagh.
Dissident republicans have also been blamed for booby-trap attacks on Catholic recruits to the PSNI.
RlRA's bloody history
ON August 15,1998, the name of the Real IRA was beamed across the world as they brutally murdered 29 people in a bomb attack in the centre of Omagh. The slaughter in the Co Tyrone market town "irreparably damaged the Irish Republican struggle", according to statements released by senior Real IRA men in Portlaoise jail last week. That attack in Omagh followed a series of attacks in towns and villages across Ulster.
Two weeks earlier, a 500lb car bomb devastated the centre of Banbridge. Hundreds of shoppers had been evacuated just moments before the blast. And in February that year, the centres of Portadown and Moira were wrecked by Real IRA bombs.
In the wake of the Omagh bomb, the group - which had split from the Provisional IRA in October 1997 - announced a ceasefire.
But it was not long before their terror campaign re-started. They often worked alongside fellow dissidents in the Continuity IRA, as they had done in the build-up to the Omagh bomb. Their terror activities included:
A bomb attack on Mahon's Hotel, Irvinestown, Co Fermanagh, in February 2000.
Soon after, a fully primed rocket launcher was discovered close to a military base in Dungannon, Co Tyrone. The Real IRA was believed to
have been behind that abandoned attack, and, in the same month, a device was found at the perimeter of Ebrington barracks in Derry.
Their attacks moved to Britain in June 2000 with a bomb on Hammersmith Bridge in London.
Later that month explosives were discovered in the grounds of Hillsborough Castle, the official residence of the Secretary of State.
In July 2000 they were behind a car bomb attack on Stewartstown RUC station in Co Tyrone and a bomb attack on the railway line near Acton, west London.
In September 2000 a soldier escaped unhurt when an 80lb bomb failed to explode at a military site at Magilligan, Co Derry.
In the same month the Real IRA launched an audacious rocket attack on M16 headquarters in London.
In March 2001 they were behind a bomb attack on BBC TV Centre, London. That attack was seen as revenge for a Panorama programme which named men believed to have been connected to the Omagh bombing.
Real IRA attacks in Britain continued in August 2001 when a bomb exploded outside a packed pub in Ealing Broadway in west London. And three months later a car bomb containing about 30kg of home made explosives was planted in Birmingham city centre.
The group was behind a booby-trap bomb attack at Caw territorial army camp near Derry which killed a civilian contractor, David Caldwell, in August this year. A mortar attack on a police patrol car in Downpatrick.
And in September the police stopped a car carrying two Real IRA under-car booby-trap bombs across the border into south Armagh.
Dissident republicans have also been blamed for booby-trap attacks on Catholic recruits to the PSNI.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/142
Published Date: 27-Oct-02
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