A dissident republican terror attack is “highly likely”, according to
one of Northern Ireland’s most senior counter-terrorism officers.
Will Kerr, Police Service of Northern Ireland assistant chief constable, said on Thursday that the threat from the New IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH) was at present severe.
Kerr issued his warning of an imminent attack during a briefing to the Policing Board in Belfast – the body comprised of politicians and community leaders that oversees the running of the PSNI in the region.
On the danger posed by the three main anti-peace process armed republican organisations, the chief constable of Northern Ireland, George Hamilton, appearing alongside Kerr, said how the PSNI respond to the threat is “critically important for public confidence”.
Despite PSNI officers being among the prime targets for the New IRA, CIRA and ONH, the threat is not affecting recruitment, according to the senior officers, with 800 applicants already for a new hiring drive launched on Thursday morning.
PSNI recruits from the Catholic/Nationalist community in Northern Ireland remain high on the dissident terror groups’ hitlist. Despite Sinn Fein giving its backing to the PSNI, there has been a drop in the number of Catholic/Nationalist recruits to the police.
Last year, only 17% of those who applied were from Catholic/Nationalist backgrounds.
In 2011, Catholic recruit PC Ronan Kerr was murdered when republican dissidents who were once members of the IRA’s East Tyrone Brigade detonated a booby-trap car bomb as he drove to work from his home in Omagh.
Earlier this year in an interview with the Guardian, Kerr said the main anti-ceasefire armed republican groups would aim to ramp up their violence ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising against British rule in 2016.
Kerr also revealed that the republican dissidents had honed and improved their rocket and bomb-making technology by studying improvised explosive devices used by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Islamist insurgents in Iraq.
The top anti-terrorist officer estimated that there was a “hardcore of several hundred” hardline republican activists keeping the armed republican campaigns going.
He said there was “certainly an ambition” by dissident republicans to dramatically increase their violence in the lead-up to the centenary of the 1916 rising.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/01/dissident-republican-terror-attack-likely-police
Will Kerr, Police Service of Northern Ireland assistant chief constable, said on Thursday that the threat from the New IRA, Continuity IRA and Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH) was at present severe.
Kerr issued his warning of an imminent attack during a briefing to the Policing Board in Belfast – the body comprised of politicians and community leaders that oversees the running of the PSNI in the region.
On the danger posed by the three main anti-peace process armed republican organisations, the chief constable of Northern Ireland, George Hamilton, appearing alongside Kerr, said how the PSNI respond to the threat is “critically important for public confidence”.
Despite PSNI officers being among the prime targets for the New IRA, CIRA and ONH, the threat is not affecting recruitment, according to the senior officers, with 800 applicants already for a new hiring drive launched on Thursday morning.
PSNI recruits from the Catholic/Nationalist community in Northern Ireland remain high on the dissident terror groups’ hitlist. Despite Sinn Fein giving its backing to the PSNI, there has been a drop in the number of Catholic/Nationalist recruits to the police.
Last year, only 17% of those who applied were from Catholic/Nationalist backgrounds.
In 2011, Catholic recruit PC Ronan Kerr was murdered when republican dissidents who were once members of the IRA’s East Tyrone Brigade detonated a booby-trap car bomb as he drove to work from his home in Omagh.
Earlier this year in an interview with the Guardian, Kerr said the main anti-ceasefire armed republican groups would aim to ramp up their violence ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising against British rule in 2016.
Kerr also revealed that the republican dissidents had honed and improved their rocket and bomb-making technology by studying improvised explosive devices used by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Islamist insurgents in Iraq.
The top anti-terrorist officer estimated that there was a “hardcore of several hundred” hardline republican activists keeping the armed republican campaigns going.
He said there was “certainly an ambition” by dissident republicans to dramatically increase their violence in the lead-up to the centenary of the 1916 rising.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/01/dissident-republican-terror-attack-likely-police
No comments:
Post a Comment