SAOIRSE32

By Vincent Kearney
BBC
13 August 2008

This Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the Omagh bombing, when the Real IRA detonated a car bomb that killed 29 people and injured hundreds of others.

It was the single biggest loss of life during the troubles.

Ten years on, the Real IRA and other dissident republican groups have vowed that their violence will go on. But just how great a threat do they pose?

“High on intent, but low on capability”. That’s been the consistent security assessment of the capabilities of republican dissidents for a number of years.

They have not killed a member of the security forces or carried out a significant attack of any kind since the Omagh bombing, but a number of events during the past year would suggest that their capabilities are growing, and so too their potential threat.

Dissident groups are believed to have about 80-100 active members.

A small hardcore are experienced terrorists who were previously members of the Provisional IRA, while the majority are committed to the dissident cause but lack operational experience.

It is estimated that there could be about 250-300 others willing to lend support and some assistance, while not wanting to become active terrorists.

There are small but relatively strong elements in Derry, Tyrone, Fermanagh and north Armagh.

They are believed to be attempting to recruit more experienced members, in particular former IRA bomb makers, but there is no evidence that they’re being successful.

Dissidents haven’t been able to form a central command structure and still operate as independent, fragmented factions carrying out attacks in their own areas.

It is also widely believed that the security services on both sides of the border have a number of well placed informants.

So what kind of threat do they pose, and could they commit another large-scale atrocity?

“We’ve been clear about the current threat for the last six months. The threat is high in certain parts of Northern Ireland,” PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said.

“But they’re badly disrupted, they’re marginalised, they’re fighting with each other so they are not at the same level and they don’t have the capacity in our judgement to carry out an outrage on the scale of Omagh.

“But they still pose a threat to the public and to the police.

“Their focus is clear, they are determined to kill a police officer, they are focused on killing a police officer and that is where our efforts are going.”

There is concern at the increasing variety of weapons and tactics being used.

In Lurgan last year, dissidents tried to attack police officers with a new kind of mortar that was more sophisticated than those previously used by the Provisional IRA.

In November, they shot and wounded two police officers in Derry and Dungannon, and in May this year a police officer suffered serious leg injuries when a bomb exploded under his car near Castlederg.

It is understood that device contained a commercial explosive - not Semtex, which was used extensively by the IRA, a substance more powerful than homemade explosives.

In June, they packed more than 150 pounds of explosives into a milk churn and beer keg and planted them beside a small bridge near Roslea in county Fermanagh.

Two police officers lured to the area by a hoax phone call escaped death or serious injury because only the detonator exploded.

MI5 staff based in their new Northern Ireland headquarters in Holywood are responsible for countering the threat from dissident republicans.

To do that, the security services devote 15% of their resources to dealing with domestic terrorism.

It is widely believed that the security services on both sides of the border have a number of well-placed informants, and they have managed to disrupt a number of attempts to bring in large quantities of weapons from eastern Europe.

Dissidents are clearly determined to improve their capabilities and increase their activities, but Sir Hugh Orde believes the police are capable of dealing with that threat, and doesn’t believe they are capable of sustaining a long-term campaign of violence.

Of course, many would have said the same thing about the Provisional IRA in its early days, but it became one of the deadliest terrorist groups in the world, killing more than 1,700 people.

However, the dissidents lack one key ingredient. They don’t have anything like the kind of widespread support within the nationalist community that the IRA had during the Troubles.

History suggests that without that support, dissidents may well be able to periodically kill, shoot and bomb, but can’t hope to make any real political impact.

By Lesley-Anne Henry
Belfast Telegraph
Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Starving, exhausted and utterly abandoned, it’s hard to believe this emaciated horse was once the pride of Belfast.

‘Marley’, now named after his former owner Mickey Marley, who entertained generations of children in Belfast city centre with his mobile roundabout, was rescued from rain-drenched bogland on the outskirts of Belfast recently.

Marley, named after his former owner, was found in Mallusk

The horse, thought to be more than 30-years-old was found at Hydepark Lane in Mallusk and is one of the worst cases of malnutrition that animal welfare workers have ever seen. His teeth are ground so far down he can no longer eat and rescuers were told he had been simply left to die.

Lyn Friel, founder of the Crosskeenan Lane Animal Sanctuary, said help arrived just in time.

“He wouldn’t have lasted another night in the field. It is touch and go from day to day with him. We are here to feed him, to groom him, to clean him and to treat him, but it is up to the horse whether or not he wants to live.

“He was obviously starving because there was no grind left in his teeth which meant he was unable to eat the grass,” she said.

Children’s entertainer Mickey Marley, who died in 2005, was immortalised in a song by folk group Barnbrack. His horse-drawn roundabout was so popular that even former Northern Ireland Prime Minister James Callaghan asked his driver to stop so he could meet him. The old roundabout is now at the Ulster Folk Museum.

Crosskennan Lane Animal Sanctuary chairman Janice Watt added: “Our volunteers could not have been prepared for the shocking sight that met them when they eventually found the horse soaked through, wandering aimless on bog land — he is a walking skeleton — quite literally. We are amazed that he has managed to survive, so poor is his condition. We have picked up some emaciated horses in our time but nothing that even comes close to this. After some discussion about what was the best thing to do for the horse — should we end his suffering and have him put to sleep immediately, or should we assess him at the sanctuary and make our decision based on what we observed? — we decided on the latter, mainly because he was so bright in himself. He really made the decision for us.

“We have been astounded by this old boy’s determination to live and are doing our utmost to make sure he has the best chance of recovery. He has a lovely deep, warm, clean bed and gets small warm mashes fed to him every two hours morning and night to gradually re-acquaint his body to food.

“I am sure Mickey Marley would turn in his grave to know his once doted-on horse and companion was left to die in such a heartless way.”

The problem of unwanted horses is becoming more common. There are currently 34 ill-treated horses at Crosskeenan Lane. Staff are putting it down to ignorance rather than intentional cruelty.

Said Janice Watt: “As the only equine welfare organisation currently operating in Northern Ireland we are bombarded with welfare cases on a daily basis.”

Welfare workers are working with the police to try and trace Marley’s owners.

Coleraiane Times
13 August 2008

SINN Féin’s Billy Leonard has claimed that loyalists paramilitaries carried firearms during an incident near a bonfire at the Heights in Coleraine on Friday night

He has also accused the police of collusion with a loyalist mob who attacked people at the bonfire. He says that late into the night police moved their Land Rovers to allow a group of over a hundred loyalists, some armed with hatchets, claw hammers,

sticks and golf clubs to move in on the nationalist people.

He said on Saturday: “Last night Coleraine saw some of the worst incidents in recent years and unionism, loyalism and the police must finally come to terms with their street and community arrogance in this town. For two hand guns to be openly displayed and nothing done is a total disgrace and an abdication of the police role.

“A nationalist lady was struck twice by police in the most thuggish way as she helped an injured relative. Nationalists had to jump walls, and seek the safety of houses; the houses were then attacked.
“Loyalists were obviously out to maximise injuries and convey their small town arrogance, and yet again the police colluded with them.”

Mr Leonard called on DUP MLAs Gregory Campbell and Adrian McQuillan to seriously address the presence of loyalist guns on Coleraine streets.
He said: “These two men have issued many statements deriding the nationalist and republican community where these incidents happened. Yet they equivocate on loyalist guns and loyalist thuggery.

“Anyone not happy with police action should contact the office of the Police Ombudsman.”
Leonard also appealed for threats levelled at nationalists and republicans to be lifted.

Coleraine Times
13 August 2008

THE UPRG has said that comments made by Sinn Fein about events in the Heights area of Coleraine are ridiculous and far from the truth of what happened.

Loyalist sources have alleged that nationalists or republicans were in possession of at least one gun at the time of the unrest in the area.

The UPRG said in a statement issued on Sunday: “The bonfire itself acted not as a celebration of culture or history but as a nationalist statement to the fact that can do what they like in a divided community.

“The same anti-internment bonfires were also erected in Antrim and Belfast to the dismay of Sinn Fein, who vocally condemned them and the people who built them.

“Obviously against his party’s policy, Cllr Billy Leonard has given his support and helped to create a republican ghetto within the Heights area by trying to support these people who are constantly intent on violence.”

The UPRG claim police were beaten back as nationalist gangs attacked houses in the area on the night of the bonfire.

As a result, the group added, the Protestant community in the town reacted to defend residents but, after the residents restored calm, they were themselves subjected to arrest by the police. They also question why the police took no action against the known ringleader of the trouble at the bonfire.

The statement concludes: “The Protestant community are very upset with firstly Billy Leonard, who fails to condemn the actions of these thugs, and secondly the PSNI who seem afraid to take action against the thugs who create such violence within the Heights area on a daily basis. ”

Other Loyalist sources have told the Times that a number of nationalists or republicans were observed moving a gun in the area of Drumard Drive, shortly before the violence at the bonfire erupted. The source says that such a move raises grave concerns for everyone in the community

Coleraine Times
13 August 2008

KILREA Apprentice Boys have reacted angrily to claims they have a convicted terrorist in their ranks. Categorically denying that convicted Greysteel murderer Torrens Knight is a member, they accused Sinn Féin of attempting to demonise their organisation and say they will be looking to the Deputy First Minister to discover the reasons behind the slur.

Sinn Féin councillor Billy Leonard issued a statement alleging that the infamous loyalist killer had laid a wreath in Kilrea on behalf of the Apprentice Boys on Saturday morning.

He claimed that Knight accompanied the parade and then stepped forward at the town’s war memorial to lay the single wreath on behalf of the area’s Apprentice Boys’ Club. The act prompted a lot of concern in Co Derry, scene of some of Knight’s most notorious acts, Leonard claimed.
The Coleraine Sinn Féin councillor said: “People who witnessed the act were absolutely amazed that someone like Torrens Knight could be given this role. It puts the Apprentice Boys in a very precarious position when they entrust the laying of a wreath to an icon of loyalist murder gangs who colluded with the security forces.

“People in Greysteel, Kilrea and other parts of Co Derry who lost relatives because of that infamous UFF group will be disgusted that the so called progressive minded Apprentice Boys are associated with Knight and integrate him in such a central way at one of their parades.

“The organisation would really need to look hard at future arrangements if they are to help move things forward in the Kilrea area.”
A spokesman for the Kilrea Branch of the Walker Club was clear in his response to the allegation. He told the Times: “The Kilrea Branch of the Walkers Club have never had, and do not have, any loyalist terrorists in their ranks.

“On Saturday morning, as is our tradition, we laid a wreath at the cenotaph in Kilrea in memory of our brethren who died in the wars.The wreath was laid by our branch president, Mervyn Moore, our president for the past five years.

“The Apprentice Boys have been demonised Sinn Féin in the past but on this occasion we are demanding answers. We will be demanding an apology and an explanation for this extraordinary claim from the Deputy First Minister and Sinn Féin.”