Felix the Cat
04-15-2009, 06:21 PM
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38cd7aaa-288b-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html
The Real IRA, the anti-peace agreement Irish terrorist group that killed two British soldiers last month, says it intends to extend its campaign to mainland Britain when it is "opportune."
In an interview given to a Dublin newspaper to coincide with the annual commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British colonial rule, a spokesman for the breakaway IRA group, said: "The days of a campaign involving military operations every day or every few days are over. We're looking for highprofile targets."
The group was set up by former IRA members in 1997 in opposition to the Northern Ireland peace agreement that sees pro-British unionists in a historic powersharing administration with Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA.
The Real IRA was behind the 1998 Omagh bombing that killed 29 people in the worst single atrocity of the three-decades long Troubles. Many of its leaders, including former IRA quartermaster Michael McKevitt, are in prison in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Security officials say the group is capable of staging a "spectacular" attack as it did with an audacious rocket-launched grenade fired at the headquarters of MI6, the security service, in 2000. No one was injured.
In March, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for killing the two British soldiers at a barracks in County Antrim, triggering concerns Northern Ireland was set to tip into violence.
Government officials say the Real IRA has been targeting members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, particularly Roman Catholics who joined what was once an almost exclusively Protestant police force.
The Real IRA, the anti-peace agreement Irish terrorist group that killed two British soldiers last month, says it intends to extend its campaign to mainland Britain when it is "opportune."
In an interview given to a Dublin newspaper to coincide with the annual commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rising against British colonial rule, a spokesman for the breakaway IRA group, said: "The days of a campaign involving military operations every day or every few days are over. We're looking for highprofile targets."
The group was set up by former IRA members in 1997 in opposition to the Northern Ireland peace agreement that sees pro-British unionists in a historic powersharing administration with Sinn Féin, the political wing of the IRA.
The Real IRA was behind the 1998 Omagh bombing that killed 29 people in the worst single atrocity of the three-decades long Troubles. Many of its leaders, including former IRA quartermaster Michael McKevitt, are in prison in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
Security officials say the group is capable of staging a "spectacular" attack as it did with an audacious rocket-launched grenade fired at the headquarters of MI6, the security service, in 2000. No one was injured.
In March, the Real IRA claimed responsibility for killing the two British soldiers at a barracks in County Antrim, triggering concerns Northern Ireland was set to tip into violence.
Government officials say the Real IRA has been targeting members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, particularly Roman Catholics who joined what was once an almost exclusively Protestant police force.