IRA Terror Returns To Northern Ireland: Third British Soldier Killed In Two Days
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - The Police Service of Northern Ireland says one of its officers has been shot and wounded in an ambush in Craigavon, a town southwest of Belfast.
Monday’s attack in Craigavon’s Lismore Road area, a predominantly Irish Catholic area, came two days after Real IRA dissidents shot and killed two British soldiers at an army base in the town of Antrim. Two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men were wounded in that attack.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for today’s shooting.
Special Forces may have sparked assault
The decision of the Northern Ireland police chief, Sir Hugh Orde, to deploy undercover British special forces against dissident republicans highlighted the controversial and emotive history of the troops during the Troubles.
Dissidents opposed to Northern Ireland’s peace process and the Catholic-Protestant government it forged have been increasing their attacks against British security forces in recent months.
Nationalists have repeatedly accused the SAS of conducting a dirty war, including assassinations, during the years of violence. Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister and former IRA leader, described the move as “stupid and dangerous”. One theory is that Saturday’s attack, for which the Real IRA has claimed responsibility, was a response to Sir Hugh’s announcement.
The unit deployed, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), was formed four years ago with the specific aim of targeting international terrorism. However, the core membership is drawn from 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment and Signals Regiment and many would have seen previous service in Ulster. Much of the covert-intelligence gathering skills of the SRR have also been honed in the province.
The 400-strong group was the first regiment-sized special forces unit to be formed for nearly 50 years. They have their headquarters, like the SAS, in Hereford and fall under the command of the Director of Special Forces.
Members of the SRR were put on the ground in Northern Ireland after a car bomb weighing 300lb was found at Castlewellan in County Down. Their main function, according to defence sources, was to carry out deep cover surveillance, including electronic eavesdropping, rather than take part in immediate offensive operations. “It wasn’t a question of them kicking down doors and shooting people in the middle of the night” insisted a senior officer “but providing some much needed intelligence for the police.”
The SRR had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Members were on duty in Basra taking part in an operation to rescue special forces soldiers seized by Shia militiamen in September 2005. They have also been involved in the freeing of hostage Norman Kember in March 2006 and the so far unsuccessful attempts to free five Britons who were seized from the Finance Ministry in Baghdad in 2007.
In Afghanistan, troops from the SRR deployed to Helmand and Kandahar and are said to have played a vital role in a series of operations, a so-called decapitation campaign, in which Taliban leaders were killed. The unit’s main role on those occasions was to gather information on the movement of the targets.
The SRR was also reported to have been involved in the operation which led to the killing of innocent Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes after the 7/7 bombings in London. Members were said to be providing “technical support” for Scotland Yard anti-terrorist officers.
They had come to the gates of their Masserene base in Co Antrim to collect pizza when they were ambushed by terrorists firing automatic rifles. Four other people were wounded in the attack including a Polish national who is critically ill in hospital. The killers even stood over their victims and fired a second volley.
Last night, a Dublin-based newspaper had a call supposedly from the Real IRA claiming responsibility for the attack, using a recognised codename.
Security sources said the planning and execution of the attack showed an increasing sophistication among the dissidents, as well as growing evidence of collusion between republican groups. Monitoring of communications presented a “confusing and complex” picture in which members of the two main groups, Real and Continuity IRA, appeared to be speaking to each other while the groups themselves were split into as many as six sub-groups.
There was also evidence that the dissidents have been acquiring weaponry including semi-automatic rifles, machine-pistols and, mechanisms for detonating pressure-plate explosive devices of the type British forces face in Afghanistan and Iraq. But security sources deny reports that a 300lb car bomb found at Castlewellan, Co Down, had, as it was reported at the time, an advanced anti-handling device.
Though it seems there were no prior indications of the Saturday night attack, security was already unusually high because of an increased threat from a variety of small-scale but lethal republican dissidents opposed to the peace process. This month, the threat level was upgraded from “substantial” to “severe”, and sources revealed that MI5 spends 15 per cent of its resources on countering terrorism in Northern Ireland. Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde recently requested support from the Army’s Special Reconnaissance Regiment to help with surveillance.
The weekend victims had gone to meet a mobile Domino’s Pizza takeaway which had arrived with food for the soldiers. The gunmen obviously knew of the regular routine on Saturday nights when as many as 20 orders of pizza were delivered. They waited until the troops emerged through the gates to pick up the food. The ambushers then stepped forward from the shadows and sprayed bullets with sustained bursts from semi-automatic weapons, hitting four soldiers and two Domino employees.
A senior police officer said: “The gunmen, having fired an initial volley of shots, moved forward when people were on the ground and fired additional shots at those people on the ground, so it was a very, very callous and very ruthless attack.”
Maverick republican splinter groups have for some time publicly proclaimed their ambition to kill members of the security forces as part of a strategy to restart the Troubles and return to large-scale conflict. They have injured several police personnel in gun and bomb attacks but security force members have escaped with their lives, sometimes by luck.
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Cocksucking IRA fags.
oh no, Not again-why can’t people JUST STOP FIGHTING?!
Now…now….I pounded down some pints with members of the IRA 8 to 10 years ago at a NORAID event with the Wolftones in concert. They were a damn friendly lot I might add.
If you ask me, the ‘Troubles’ have some similarity with our shitty situation. Us folks here stateside only get one side of the picture.
mmmmmmmm “Wolftones”! Maybe if they played a lot more people would be to inebriated to get into this b.s.
I’m sorry for the soldiers and their families. I’m sorry for the whole damned mess over there, it TIS a beautiful country. *sigh*
I’ll put it too you this way. If some person, government or country came along and took your land, your food, your lively hood and your family starved for decades…..I guarantee if you survived you would not forget what was done to you and lose you loved.
At Obama present rate alot of us will be in that very situation……..You going to turn the other cheek after you lose your property, your savings, your lively hood and you watch your family and friends starve?
I think not.
March 9, 2009 at 6:41 p
You going to turn the other cheek after you lose your property, your savings, your lively hood and you watch your family and friends starve?
I think not.
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Well on my way already.
Well on my way.
The two soldiers murdered by terrorists on saturday night were having a last pizza before going to the airport to deploy to Afghanistan. An operation we are involved in because YOUR country was attacked by terrorists.
The police officer (an individual who was almost undoubtedly born and brought up here in NI) murdered last night was responding to a call from a distressed woman who claimed her house was under attack.
A message of support from someone in an allied country would have been far more more appropriate than some garbled rubbish about events from several hundred years ago regurgitated from a nights drinking with “plastic paddies” at a Wolftones concert.
The ira are rumoured to be heavily linked to the russian mob. so maybe russia have their fingers in this?
What has always confused me is the fact the British forces are still in Northern Ireland after all these years. The peace process has seen great gains in security and stability so it confuses me as to why British military personal are still in N. Ireland in force. They need to start handing over responsibility of N. Ireland to the Irish. This is exactly what we are accomplishing in Iraq. Maintaining a strong military persence in civilian areas only gives the radical fringe a reason to keep fighting. 99.9% of N. Ireland is ready for peace let them have it.
So I met some nice folks from the IRA. Very likeable lads with wives and smiling kids, several thousand other Irish Decendents of the area attended as well. The music was interesting, Celtic cheer with lyrics of distain. If you didn’t know the language you’d have thought it was a party of fun and frolic.
That was my experience. No where did I say or not say they were justified in their actions. What I did say was that the media spins one side of the story (sound familiar) and that if a government, group or person had or did caused my loved ones hardship I would not look too kindly upon them.
Right or wrong whether Orange or Green, Sunni or Shia people don’t forget when they preceive they have been wronged. Then add someones political agenda, some media spin and there you have it.
Bobby Sands, Ben Franklin, George Washington, The Crown, Sein Fein, Osama Bin Laden, Mao, Lenin….each of them Oppressed or the Oppressor, a Terrorist or a Freedom Fighter depending on your perception of what is right or wrong.
In our own present day political environment more and more people are drawing a line in the sand, some feel it wrong, some feel it is right.
It is all in your preception of things.
Why do the USMC feel the need to maintain such a strong presence in California? Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and happens to be where those soldiers are based. They were not there to conduct operations, they had as I said completed their pre deployment training and were about to deploy to Afghanistan.
The Army only provides a very small number of specialist soldiers to support the Police here in NI, exactly the same specialists that the Police can ask for support in the rest of the UK. Responsibility for security rests firmly with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Well some people are questioning as to why the Marines are particpating in civilian operations such as DUI check points. If they start doing that in my town I won’t be happy, it is un-Constitutional and should not happen IMO.
The North of Ireland is still part of the UK….but the remainder of Ireland is a Free State not under the UK.
Why is that Adam?
The soldiers based in NI are not participating in any civilian operations with the exception of EOD assistance and recently a small number of specialists engaged in assistance with intelligence gathering.
The reason that Northern Ireland is still part of the UK is that the majority of people who live in Northern Ireland want it to remain part of the UK. We call that democracy.
Your “very likeable lads” from the IRA believe if they murder enough people they can force that to change regardless of what the majority want. We call that terrorism.
My ex husband was English. When we were trying to pick a wedding date someone suggested St. Patrick’s day. That person got an earful. Something along the lines of “Why would I get married on that cocksuckers day. All those bastards do is try to blow us up.” I learned to avoid bringing up the Irish. It’s a shame this shit is starting up again.
If I had my ex’s address I would give it to the IRA, but that’s a different story.
When the Crown evicted Catholic landowners in Northern Ireland, confiscated their land and implanted Protestant Scots and Angelicans the Crown soed the seeds of discontent.
The Catholics appreciated that about as much as you would appreciate someone implanting a bunch of Muslims in your neighborhood and requiring you to live under Sharia Law…..I would garner to say you would be quite pissed off.
As for the ‘likeable lads’, I am sure the RUC Lads are just as likelble as long as the two sides aren’t in the same room
It is not a spot I would wish to be in the middle of while trying to keep the peace.
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Which all happened over a hundred years before your ancestors did the same things, and worse, to the Native Americans. I don’t see many of them gunning down pizza delivery boys and blowing up civilians because of it. Would you sympathise with them as well if they did?
The RUC were the ones keeping the peace here, I doubt if they would need your help with it. As one officer once said “I don’t ever go to work with the intention of killing someone. The terrorists intend to kill someone every time they go to work”.
The Police officer murdered last night went to work with the intention of helping a woman in distress, the terrorists went to work with the intention of murdering him and any civilians that got in the way. Which one of them do you think was contributing most to the people of Northern Ireland?
The Crusades are back.
Russia is coming back.
China hasn’t gone anywhere.
America is going fast.
Now the Troubles are coming back as well.
Just when you thought the 20th century was bad.
We did worse? I say we were about equal.
The Indians are still pissed as are a few others and it has been well over 100 years. People in the South were still very upset about our Civil War within my lifetime.
Who was contibuting the most….me personally I would say the Cop, but that depends on your outlook now doesn’t it. Not much different than the Isrealis and the Palestanians from were I am sitting.
I think we would both agree that regardless of how many in Northern Ireland feel about being under the thumb of the Crown, the majority on both sides would prefer to live in peace and quiet.
Lets Bring On A United Ireland, or a Independence Northern Ireland, we dont need England Opressing Us Know More, then we Would Have Peace and Sing Songs About Saint Patrick, who Gives a Shit What Unionist Want i Know i Dont, a United Ireland is Going to Happen Sooner or Later, so Unionist should just Accept it.
the United Kingdom Thing Hasnt Worked Out for Anyone
now we Are Rolling to a United Ireland Slowelly
Yahh Ireland