SAOIRSE32

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.