SAOIRSE32

BBC

Dissident republicans are being blamed for a gun attack on a police patrol in Craigavon.

A number of cars have been burnt out during trouble in Craigavon

Four to five shots were heard after the patrol saw a man in a crouching position aiming at them with a “long-barrelled weapon”, police said.

No-one was injured in the attack in the Brownlow Road area, which happened shortly before 2000 BST on Tuesday.

Later, stones were thrown at SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly after she spoke out against the violence.

“I had been on the news condemning the attacks on police officers,” she said.

“There is no doubt in my mind that it was specifically me who was attacked and targeted because they waited until I had walked away until I came under attack.”

Mrs Kelly’s car windscreen was smashed and she suffered a minor leg injury.

But she said it would not stop her speaking out against attacks on the police.

Police Deputy District Commander Superintendent Alan McCrum said the gun attack was “a deliberate attempt to murder officers”.

“This takes today’s events to another level,” he said.

“However, police will continue in their efforts to bring calm to the area despite these attacks on them.”

Earlier on Tuesday, at least one blast bomb, as well as bottles, stones and petrol bombs were thrown at police in the town investigating a security alert.

That trouble happened in the Tullygally and Drumbeg areas.

No-one was injured, but a number of vehicles were burnt out and several police vehicles damaged.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of hijacking. The alert followed a telephoned bomb warning on Monday. Nothing was found.

Motorists have been warned to avoid the area.

Burnt barrels and other debris
The trouble took place in the Tullygally and Drumbeg areas

Local politicians have condemned the violence.

Sinn Fein assembly member John O’Dowd blamed the trouble on dissident republicans.

“I would appeal to everyone involved in the trouble to stop it now before someone is either injured or killed,” he said.

“This is not a game, this is not fun, what we’ve seen tonight is actually attempted murder. Please stop it now before someone is killed.”

Torrens Knight hits out at hate campaign by nationalist politicians

“Yes, I did what I did. I can’t change the past but what’s the difference between me and Gerry Kelly, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness? ”
Torrens Knight

By Una Culkin
Coleraine Times
27 August 2008

GREYSTEEL killer Torrens Knight has accused nationalist politicians of waging a hate campaign against him since his release from prison.

The man convicted of 12 murders including those at Greysteel and Castlerock in the 1990s spoke exclusively to The Coleraine Times to challenge the politicians to “get off my back please”.

The Coleraine man, who served seven years out of eight life sentences for the murder of four Catholic workmen at Castlerock and the “Trick of Treat” Greysteel massacre in 1993, approached this newspaper to explain that he has distanced himself from paramilitaries and wants to get on with his life.

“I have changed,” he said. “I have moved away from paramilitaries. Yes, I am an ex-terrorist but there are plenty of other ex-prisoners out there also.

“Why can they not leave me alone? I have done my time and I have let go of my hatred. It’s been eight years (since Knight’s release from jail under the Good Friday Agreement] and I have bothered nobody.

“I am just trying to get on with my life.”

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Knight singled out Sinn Fein councillor Billy Leonard and SDLP MLA John Dallat as carrying out what he described as a “hate campaign” against him.

“There has been a hate campaign against me since I came out of prison. I have kept my head down and tried not to get into it but I am fed up with it.

“Yes, I did what I did. I can’t change the past but what’s the difference between me and Gerry Kelly, Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness? They are all ex-paramilitaries and are now in government but you never hear Billy Leonard complaining about them.

“They expect the Unionist and Loyalist people to accept them in the government but us Loyalists can’t do anything.”

Knight’s candid interview with this newspaper came the week after claims were made in the media that he was a member of Kilrea Apprentice Boys.

Cllr Billy Leonard claimed that Knight had been spotted laying a wreath at Kilrea War Memorial with the local Apprentice Boys.
This was categorically denied by both the Apprentice Boys and Knight himself.

“I am not in the Apprentice Boys but if I was, is it such a big deal when Martin McGuinness and others are in the government of this country?

“They portray themselves as men of peace but they don’t seem to want to let go of the past. Are they are the ones with the problem?

“I have changed. I have grown up a lot since back then. I have moved away from paramilitaries.

“In prison I had a lot of time to reflect and I try to look at other people’s perspectives now. I know some people would be happier to see the likes of me spend the rest of our lives in prison but we have all made mistakes and I can understand that but I was let out early by the government and I just have to try and get on with my life.

“I could have come out of prison and got involved in paramilitaries again or gone down the road of criminality but I chose not to. So why can’t they get off my back?”

Knight accused nationalist politicians of using him to score points against each other and against the British government and loyalism.
He also urged politicians to think of the families of those murdered in the Troubles.

“It’s not fair of these politicians to talk about fighting for the victims’ families because all this can’t be helping the victims’ families.

“Those people must want to forget about the likes of me. It must be hard enough for all the victims’ families living without their loved ones without being reminded on a regular basis every time Dallat or Leonard bring up my name.

“Yes I was a terrorist but so was Martin McGuinness and now he’s running the country. It’s totally hypocritical. They have double standards.

“I was a man of war but now I want peace to work. But a fair peace. Some nationalist and republican politicians come across as not wanting a fair peace, they just want to score points against the British government and loyalists.

“That won’t build confidence in the Unionist community. They expect us to accept ex-terrorists like Gerry Kelly and Martin McGuinness in government but yet they keep picking on me and other Loyalists.

“If peace is going to work is has to be fair to both sides. We have all made mistakes in the past so let’s try to move on now.”

Mr Knight said that the millions of pounds being spent on public enquiries could be better spent on issues which the whole community share, such as the state of the health service.

“We can’t sweep the past below the carpet and we shouldn’t but pouring millions of pounds into enquiries that won’t achieve a lot won’t help.”

Knight accepted that his speaking out might make his situation worse but said: “I have decided to speak out to say ‘get off my back’ but will those politicians listen?

“I have genuinely moved on in my thinking. I want to get on with my life and I want people to forget about me but it’s as if I’m the only person who did anything wrong.”

WHAT THE MEDIA SAID ABOUT ME

In a wide ranging interview with The Coleraine Times, Knight was particularly critical of the way he has been portrayed by the media.
And he is in no doubt why.

“When I went into prison the media picked on me because I showed defiance coming out of court,” said Knight referring to the infamous photograph of him emerging from Limavady courthouse and jeering at crowds after being charged with the Greysteel murders.

“Since I went into prison, 95% of what has been written about me has been lies and I know why.

“They made me out to be a monster and wrote what ever they wanted about me. And basically because I am a convicted murderer, they can write what they want about me and get away with it.

“That is why John Dallat and Billy Leonard feel that they can say what they want about me and the media will report it.”

“John Dallat and Billy Leonard accused me of being an MI5 informer with absolutely no proof,” claimed Knight.

“I can sit here and categorically state that isn’t true.

“But they just seem to be able to say what they want. To say someone is an informer when they are part of a paramilitary organisation is the lowest of the low because the big thing in paramilitaries is trust.

“Look what happened to some of the informers on the other side like Scappatici and Dennis Donaldson. I could quite easily have been shot over that. Maybe that’s what they would like.”

In 2007, the Ulster Political Research Group responded to what they called a “two-year hate campaign” in the media against Knight and declared that he had not and never had been in the pay of MI5 or any other branch of the security services.

In October 2007, a Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland investigation established that police did not have any prior knowledge which could have helped them prevent the Greysteel attack. The investigators did not find any evidence that Torrens Knight was protected from the rigours of the law.

MLA’s relative seriously ill

By Erin Hutcheon
Derry Journal
26 August 2008

Suspected joyriders have run down the brother-in-law of Sinn Fein MLA Mitchel McLaughlin and left him seriously ill in hospital.

Don Campbell, who is his 50s, was knocked down in a car park near Ballyarnett Country Park on Friday evening. Local residents say the area has become a blackspot for joyriders and speeding motorists.

Mr. Campbell was found lying in the car park however it not yet known exactly where he was struck by the car, or how he got to the car park. His condition yesterday was described as “serious.”

The incident is the second in a series of hit and runs. A few weeks ago, a man was knocked down in nearby Racecourse Road, and then assaulted by the occupants of the car.

Sinn Fein MLA Raymond McCartney said residents had complained that joyriders were not being given appropriate sentences when prosecuted.

He said: “We need to reassure people that the people responsible for this will be held to account. There have been complaints in the past and we have dealt with this with the PSNI, that a number of people who were arrested go to court and get bail too easily. There has been in the past condemnation of the length of sentences.”

SDLP Councillor Helen Quigley said politicians had warned for some time that it was only a matter of time before there was a tragedy.

She said: “It would appear that this very serious incident has resulted from actions that are becoming a regular occurrence in the area and it seems that this has been the case for quite some time.

“There is now a responsibility on the police to put extra resources into tackling joyriding here and in the other hotspot areas around the city. We have been saying for some time that it will only be a matter of time before a tragedy happens.”

Police have appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or has information about it, to contact them.

Derry Journal
26 August 2008

A mural commemorating the 40th anniversary of the beginning of the civil rights campaign will be unveiled on the back of Free Derry Corner this Friday.

The unveiling is part is a series to mark the anniversary, culminating in a two-day programme of meetings, lectures and exhibitions at the Guildhall on the 4th and 5th of October which will be attended by President Mary McAleese. Other invited guests will include Professor Kadar Asmal, a member of the ANC government in South Africa who sought sanctuary in Ireland during the apartheid era.

The full list of events for the commemoration weekend, which is being organised to coincide with the anniversary of the first civil rights march in Derry on 5th October 1968. The mural will be unveiled on Friday afternoon at 2.30pm.

BBC
25 August 2008

A Derry woman has been told her life is under threat from dissident republicans who mistakenly believe she is in the police.

Lisa Daly, from Drumahoe, was informed of the threat last Friday.

DUP councillor Drew Thompson, who has been in contact with Ms Daly, said she was terrified and urged the PSNI to publicly say she was not a member.

He said: “She has left her home at the moment because she is afraid to live there at this current minute in time.”

By Patrick Corrigan
amnesty.org.uk
10 March 2008

There’s a debate under way (I’ve joined in myself) over at the BBC NI-hosted blog, Will and Testament , about torture, the CIA and why “good people turn evil”.

The debate is prompted by a book, interview and slideshow (horrific pictures of abuse from the US era in charge of Abu Ghraib – viewer discretion advised) by Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardo. Follow the links for the background and the debate.

Suffice it to say that the fight against the use of torture is sadly, yet again, one of the debates of our time.

Many in Amnesty thought that we had fought and largely won this argument back in the seventies and eighties when we led a sustained and successful campaign which resulted in the UN Convention against Torture.

In 1973 the UN General Assembly approved an Amnesty resolution denouncing torture and two years later the UN unanimously adopted a declaration against torture following Amnesty campaign.

By 1984 the UN Convention against Torture was adopted and finally came into force three years later. To date, 142 nations are parties to it, with another nine having signed but not yet ratified.

Job done? Of course not.

During the same period, the use of torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment continued apace throughout the world – including here in Northern Ireland.

In the seventies, Amnesty helped to expose the use of the infamous “five techniques” used here in security force interrogations of terrorist suspects: (1) hooding, (2) wall-standing, (3) subjection to noise, (4) relative deprivation of food and water and (5) sleep deprivation. (Techniques, let us not forget, now being rolled out as part of the global “war on terror”.)

For illustration purposes let me quote Tom Parker, a fellow at Brown University, and a counter-terrorism expert, who describes just one of the techniques as used in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s:

“Subjection to noise meant placing the prisoner in close proximity to the monotonous whine of machinery, such as a generator or compressor, for as long as six or seven days. At least one prisoner subjected to this treatment told Amnesty International that having been driven to the brink of insanity by the noise, he had tried to commit suicide by banging his head against metal piping in his cell.”

In 1977 the European Court of Human Rights found the UK government guilty of the use of these “cruel, inhuman and degrading” methods of interrogation in Northern Ireland.

At the time, presumably, the UK’s forces (and political leaders) thought the approach worthwhile and even necessary in their local “war on terror”.

However, subsequently, former British intelligence officer Frank Steele told the journalist Peter Taylor:

“As for the special interrogation techniques, they were damned stupid as well as morally wrong … in practical terms, the additional usable intelligence they produced was, I understand, minimal.”

Three decades on, the debate is just a relevant and the global consequences even more deadly than in the days of car bombs and teenage kicks in Northern Ireland.

The Zimbardo experiments and the Abu Ghraib scandal might lead some to think that prisoner torture is mostly a case of good people carrying out deviant acts of evil in extraordinary and stressful circumstances.

But the abuses carried out in the 1970s in the cells of Palace Barracks in Holywood or Girdwood Barracks in Belfast cannot be explained away as aberrant behaviour by otherwise good people. What happened there – as happened in Abu Ghraib under Saddam and under Bush – were the actions of agents of the State carrying out the orders of the State.

These “interrogation in depth” techniques were not invented in or for Northern Ireland and had been used before in British colonies and dominions like Kenya, Cyprus, Palestine, Aden, British Cameroon and Malaya

Lord Gardiner in his minority report to the UK government in March 1972, put it pretty well:

“The blame for this sorry story, if blame there be, must lie with those who, many years ago, decided that in emergency conditions in Colonial-type situations we should abandon our legal, well-tried and highly successful wartime interrogation methods and replace them by procedures which were secret, illegal, not morally justifiable and alien to the traditions of what I believe still to be the greatest democracy in the world.”

His words have real resonance and relevance in 2008, including for today’s UK government which appears to have few qualms over its allies’ behaviour.

Until people in democratic countries such as our own demand that their States have no hand in such acts of torture, they will continue to be ordered when leaders of those States feel threatened.

If the moral and legal arguments against torture are insufficient for some politicians, perhaps the counter-productivity of torture (in terms of alienating those communities whose support is necessary to defeat terrorism) might be an alternative argument. Any short-term gains (whether in Northern Ireland or elsewhere) are more than offset by long-term failures.

Human rights campaigners – and others – have a duty to make the arguments and to persuade the public, again and again, that resort to torture is a degradation of the values most of us hold dear … and makes us no safer in our beds or on our buses.

You can join Amnesty’s campaign to stop torture here.

By Patrick Corrigan
amnesty.org.uk
26 August 2008

“300 Irish republican ex-prisoners are to attempt to have their convictions overturned” according to Henry McDonald in a story in yesterday’s Guardian and repeated extensively elsewhere (Daily Telegraph for instance) today.

According to the article, a number of the former IRA prisoners allege that the convictions were secured through “confessions extracted under torture and duress”.

Although often denied in years past, it is now accepted that the security forces in Northern Ireland operated a regime of so-called “interrogation in depth”, an issue that I blogged (Torture – 1970s Northern Ireland; 21st century world) back in March, prompted by further revelations of American abuses in Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

As I noted then and is noted in the newspapers today, in the 1970s Amnesty International helped to expose the use of the infamous ‘five techniques’ used here in security force interrogations of terrorist suspects: (1) hooding, (2) wall-standing, (3) subjection to noise, (4) relative deprivation of food and water and (5) sleep deprivation.

Today’s detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, will be familiar with the the techniques, revived as part of the US-led and UK-assisted ‘war on terror’.

That the “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” (as described by the European Court of Human Rights in a 1977 ruling), meted out in 1970s Northern Ireland, may now come back to haunt the legal process in the shape of large scale challenges to alleged unsafe convictions, can scarcely be a surprise to legal experts.

That it has taken thirty-odd years may be the greater surprise. As the case of Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohammed (help him here) may have started to illustrate, the UK’s role in recent ill-treatment and/or torture of ‘war on terror’ prisoners, may come to light rather more quickly.

The fact is, at least some of those convicted in the 1970s of terrorist offences in Northern Ireland may well have been innocent. Indeed, given what we know about the unreliability of ‘evidence’ extracted under torture / duress, it would be surprising if a number of them were not. In other cases, the guilty party may well have been identified and successfully convicted, but if those convictions were based on practices incompatible with justice (evidence-tampering or prisoner abuse, for instance), then they would indeed be unsafe according to the law.

And, by the way – in case anyone is in any doubt – I am under no illusions about how the IRA often treated its ‘prisoners’: a bullet in the back of the head and a body left by the roadside across the border. And that’s only if the victim and their family were lucky…

We rightly expect a lot more from our government, its agents and the legal process.

By Noel McAdam
Belfast Telegraph
Tuesday, 26 August 2008

Failure of the Stormont Executive to meet in just over three weeks’ time will have “serious consequences for the good government of Northern Ireland”, First Minister Peter Robinson warned today.

As the crisis over the devolution of policing and justice powers worsened, he said the DUP will not allow further progress on the issue unless the Executive is working.

And in his toughest language to date, the DUP leader bluntly told Sinn Fein the days when the republican movement could make threats to force concessions are gone.

Mr Robinson also said, in the absence of clarification from his partners in the 16-month old administration, he will assume Sinn Fein intends to walk away from the Executive.

Insisting ministers made legally-binding pledges of office which are not being kept, he said: “A meeting of the Executive has been scheduled for (Thursday) September 18. If this meeting were not to take place it is self-evident that there would be serious consequences for the good government of Northern Ireland and indeed potentially for those who refuse to fulfil their legal obligations.” His attack came as Sinn Fein demanded a “much more meaningful engagement” with the DUP and said it needed devolved policing and justice, and other issues – including an Irish language act – to be resolved.

Further ratcheting up the long-running dispute, which could potentially lead to new Assembly elections, the East Belfast MP went on: “The DUP movement on such issues will not be hastened by the issuing of threats. The central component to allow movement is community confidence.

“However, the behaviour of Sinn Fein has undoubtedly damaged confidence and in so doing will hinder the speed of progress. More precisely, by virtue of the consequences of responding to such threats, the DUP will not further progress this matter in the absence of a properly functioning Executive.”

The stern warning came just a few weeks after Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness reached outline agreement on a single justice and policing minister and asked the Assembly’s Executive Review Committee to explore the modalities for the devolution of such powers.

“The DUP does not believe there would be support for the devolution of policing and justice if Sinn Fein ministers were to have responsibility for any policing and justice function. Furthermore, it is clear that a policing and justice Minister could not be subject to the vagaries of an Executive which can be subject to the kind of behaviour we have recently witnessed,” the DUP chief added today.

The strident tone of his remarks makes a renewed intervention by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has already met both parties to attempt a resolution, more likely.

Mr Robinson, who has presided over only one Executive session since becoming First Minister, said he been attempting to have the Executive called together to deal with important outstanding business for some time, clearing Executive papers and approving sufficient work for several meetings.

He said he could only conclude the weekend threat from Sinn Fein leader in the Dail, Caoimhghim O Caolain, to withdraw Ministers from the Executive involved the intention of collapsing the Assembly.

Belfast Telegraph
Tuesday, 26 August 2008

A 10-year-old statement from the IRA could explain how dissident republicans got their hands on the Semtex now being used to attack security forces. Brian Rowan reports

There may be a simple answer to the Semtex mystery — a way of explaining how that explosive came to be used by republican dissidents in an attack on the police in Lisnaskea a week or so ago.

The answer could be in something that was said by the IRA in 1999 — long before the decommissioning process began, and long before that recent failed attempt to kill PSNI officers in Fermanagh.

There is a ‘P O’Neill’ briefing now almost ten years old.

Its opening sentences read: “Following thorough investigations over a prolonged period, the IRA has established that a small amount of its weaponry has been stolen by some individuals who resigned from the IRA over a year ago.

“The weapons involved were secretly misappropriated by those individuals prior to their defection.”

Those defections are at the roots of the dissident campaign —and those who left the IRA included significant figures in its “quartermaster” and “engineering” departments.

Their business was weaponry —developing it as well as storing arms that had been smuggled into Ireland from Libya and elsewhere.

The ‘P O’Neill’ briefing of Wednesday, February 3, 1999 continued: “We have recovered some but not all of the stolen weapons.

“The IRA will continue its investigations until all its weaponry has been recovered.”

We would be in a very different place if each one of those attacks had come off

In that briefing there could well be the answer to all those recent questions — a possible explanation for how weaponry once under the control of the mainstream IRA found its way into the hands of the dissidents.

Those who knew where it was hidden stole it.

There is no suggestion that the IRA or elements of it are assisting the dissidents — those republicans opposed to the peace process and still trying to force change through an armed campaign.

In the latest phase of attacks their aim is to kill a police officer, and they have come close to doing so.

“They are trying all right,” commented the retiring assistant chief constable Peter Sheridan.

“We would be in a very different place if each one of those attacks had come off.”

The big question is how to stop the dissidents, and Peter Sheridan believes politicians can help.

“The devolution of policing and justice would put another nail in their coffin,” he commented.

There are significant voices who would agree with Sheridan.

But remember the dissidents came back after Omagh — after being forced into hiding and shamed into the shadows in the wake of the horror of that bombing ten years ago.

They have not the political or military wherewithal to recreate the “war” of the IRA or to destroy the peace process.

But they could kill a police officer — and if they achieve that aim, particularly through the use of old IRA weaponry, then that will raise more questions on top of the many already asked after that Semtex incident in Lisnaskea.

In this newspaper some weeks ago Brendan Duddy, the man who for decades was a secret link between the British Government and the republican leadership, made an argument for talking to the dissidents.

“What we are doing is opening a door that might just save some human being,” he said.

He also had this question for what he described as “alternative” republicans.

“Will shooting a serving police officer help in any way whatsoever to advance their cause?”

That was back in April, and those dissidents are still trying to be heard through their violence.

The events of recent days — including that use of Semtex in Lisnaskea — do not raise serious questions about the decommissioning process. There is a possible explanation for that.

The big question is how best to silence the guns and the bombs of those still trying to force change through an armed campaign.

News Letter
26 August 2008

REVULSION has greeted an announcement that hundreds of former IRA prisoners are to try to have their convictions overturned.

Around 300 republicans are claiming they were sent to jail on the back of confessions forced from them during interrogation.

Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister said no one could deny “occasional miscarriages of justice occurred” but the suggestion that hundreds of IRA terrorists, duly convicted, were actually all innocent was “preposterous”.

Innocent people populate Ulster’s graves, he added, not the ranks of former IRA prisoners.

And William Frazer of victims’ group FAIR said he was disgusted that people – “most of whom were presumably happy to serve their sentences on IRA wings” – were now “rubbing salt into the wounds of the people whose loved ones they murdered and maimed”.

Many ex-prisoners cannot find jobs, insurance or loans because of their convictions. They are also barred from entry to countries like the US.

Sinn Fein MLA Caral Ni Chuilin said: “A lot of men in Long Kesh were only there because they signed a confession extracted from them under extreme circumstances in places like Castlereagh and Gough.

“I am aware that there are a lot of people coming forward to build a case up.

“The issue about this is that this affected republicans and loyalists and people from unionist and nationalist working-class areas who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up spending their lives in jail.”

Earlier this year Danny Morrison, Sinn Fein’s former publicity director, challenged his 1991 conviction for falsely imprisoning IRA informer Sandy Lynch a year earlier.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission recommended Mr Morrison’s case go back to the Court of Appeal.

It is understood the prosecution service is unlikely to contest the appeal.

Michael Culbert, director of republican ex-prisoners’ group Coiste, said there was no organised attempt to overturn convictions but added he was aware of a number of cases.

Mr Allister said: “Every terrorist conviction in Northern Ireland was the product of a due process with built in double judicial protection.

“Not only did a senior judge preside over every trial but every convicted terrorist – unlike ‘ordinary’ criminals – had an automatic right of appeal to three Judges in the Court of Appeal, and beyond, if appropriate.

“So every finding of guilt was well sifted judicially.”

He added: “Let’s remember the IRA murdered over 2,000 innocent people. Would they now have us believe that persons, other than those convicted, committed those and other heinous crimes.

“I know the IRA/Sinn Fein is on a mission to sanitise its past, and that for some such could be politically convenient, but their ranks are not the habitation of the innocent.

“The innocent populate the graves of Ulster, put are there primarily by IRA/Sinn Fein and thus it would be stomach-turning to see this campaign at re-writing history gaining any credence in the courts.”

News Letter
27 August 2008

A SNIPER fired up to five shots at police in Criagavon last night after the area exploded in rioting. The attack has been slammed as latest sign dissident republicans have stepped up their campaign to shatter power-sharing.

Officers saw a gunman in a crouching position aiming with a “long-barrelled weapon” before he blasted their passing patrol.

No one was injured as the shots reverberated around the Brownlow area at around 8pm.

One of the burnt-out cars in the Craigavon riots yesterday

Earlier, a blast bomb, as well as bottles, stones and petrol bombs had rained down on officers as the Co Armagh town erupted in violence.

The area resembled a battle zone as the sniper opened fire, as roads were littered with chunks of missiles and smashed bottles and the burnt-out shells of torched cars.

Trouble flared when police went to investigate telephone bomb warnings in the nationalist Tullygally and Drumbeg area on Monday evening.

Police Deputy District Commander, Superintendent Alan McCrum, slammed the gun attack as attempted murder.

He said: “This takes today’s events to another level. It is a deliberate attempt to murder my officers.

“However, police will continue in their efforts to bring calm to the area despite these attacks on them.”

No one was reported injured as the riots raged, four police vehicles were damaged when they were hit by a barrage of missiles.

Three cars, a van and a jeep were hijacked and burnt out yesterday morning at the Tullygally roundabout and thet area was sealed off.

A string of police in riot gear were seen chasing a man into a house as a PSNI helicopter circled overhead before they used batons to break down the door.

One man, 31, has been arrested on suspicion of hijacking and is currently in custody assisting police with their inquiries.

Politicians accused dissident republicans of orchestrating the violence and luring security services into an ambush after hoax bomb warnings.

It is understood one of the alerts was phoned through to a Samaritan helpline centre on Monday.

Craigavon PSNI area commander, Chief Inspector Jason Murphy, said the probe into the security alerts had been “professional” and he was shocked by the riots.

He added: “Police entered the Drumbeg area to carry out a security operation following a number of telephone warnings that a bomb had been left.

“It is deeply disturbing that in carrying out this operation to safeguard the local community police themselves came under attack when petrol bombs and a blast bomb were thrown at them. It is fortunate that officers did not receive serious injuries.”

Upper Bann MP David Simpson said dissident elements in Craigavon had planned the attacks to drag Northern Ireland back into the “black days” of the Troubles.

The DUP MLA added: “The bomb alerts were obviously a ruse for luring security forces into the area for the attacks.

“Not only were they pelted with bombs and stones and bottles earlier - now they are facing live rounds.

“There is definitely an element of dissident republicans in the area intent on creating havoc and dragging Northern Ireland back 20 years.”
Sinn Fein Assembly member John O’Dowd said: “I would appeal to everyone involved in the trouble to stop it now before someone is either injured or killed.

“This is not a game, this is not fun, what we’ve seen tonight is actually attempted murder. Please stop it now before someone is killed.”

And SDLP MLA Dolores Kelly said: “It is clear that all these incidents are part of an orchestrated and pre-planned campaign to injure or murder a police officer.

“This is not spontaneous violence. It is not recreational rioting. It is part of an organised and violent strategy.”

Ms Kelly said her car was attacked by youths earlier in the evening when she was visiting a local graveyard.

Over the past year, top officers have warned dissident activity is back to the level of the summer of 1998 - the year of the Omagh bomb atrocity which killed 29 people.

Two weeks ago, police in Fermanagh escaped injury when an improvised rocket-propelled grenade using Semtex from the IRA’s terror arsenal failed to detonate.

And last November the Real IRA shot and wounded Jim Doherty, a Catholic recruit to the PSNI who originally came from the republican Bogside area of Londonderry.

He was fired on while he was taking his son to school.

Less than a week later the same organisation attempted to shoot another Catholic policeman outside Dungannon police station in Co Tyrone.

Senior PSNI sources have been reported saying dissidents are still targeting Catholic recruits to try to intimidate people from the nationalist community joining the police. A number of officers have been forced from their homes because intelligence reports showed they were being monitored.

Just last week, the Northern Ireland branch of the Prison Officers’ Association said several of its members are living under death threats.

Ms Kelly of the SDLP added that she felt dissidents were using the stand-off between Sinn Fein and the DUP to try and destabilise the Assembly.

She added: “There is a political vacuum between Sinn Fein and the DUP over policing and justice and the dissidents are trying to take advantage of the situation.”

The increased threat from dissidents prompted Ian Paisley Jnr to proclaim last week that officers “should shoot dissident republicans on sight”.

David Simpson last night said the security forces should be given whatever power necessary to defend themselves.