THE BRITISH government has insisted that the British army will not be reintroduced into south Armagh in the wake of the discovery of the 275kg (600lb) dissident republican bomb, despite some unionist calls for such a move.
The PSNI, with support from gardaí, were continuing their investigations yesterday into the planting of the bomb near Forkhill in south Armagh. The home-made bomb was concealed in three barrels. It was heavily camouflaged and placed alongside the road.
The device was primed and could have been exploded at any time. The dissidents who prepared the bomb had gone to considerable lengths to try to avoid detection or discovery of the device. A lengthy concealed command wire was stretched across a field and into a second field into Co Louth where it could have been triggered. Police remain convinced it was targeted at passing PSNI patrols. Had the dissident operation been successful, it was clear that not only would police officers have been killed but people living in houses close by would also have been killed, police said.
No group has admitted responsibility so far but it is believed that one of the two factions of the Real IRA, possibly the group that goes under the name “Óglaigh na hÉireann”, was behind the planned ambush. DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson said it now may be necessary to bring in the British army to combat the threat from dissidents. The SAS may also be required, he added. Mr Donaldson said the current threat level showed the folly of plans to press ahead with the disbandment of the PSNI full-time reserve. He said if the police did not have sufficient resources and experience to meet the threat, then it may be necessary to bring British soldiers back to south Armagh and other parts of Northern Ireland.
Mr Donaldson said if the PSNI was not properly resourced to meet the threat, then there may be no other option but to bring back the army. “Maybe we are talking about the SAS, maybe we are talking about undercover operations here to thwart the efforts of these terrorists,” he told BBC Radio Ulster yesterday. Mr Donaldson denied he was engaging in “party politics” or attempting to “wind up” Sinn Féin by suggesting the introduction of the SAS.
Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader Danny Kennedy also said that if it were recommended, he would support a return of the British army to south Armagh.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP warned against such a move. Alliance Assembly member and justice spokesman Stephen Farry MLA said it was important to respect the primacy of the PSNI in “combating the dissident security threat and providing it with the necessary resources rather than resorting to the return of the army”.
A Northern Ireland Office spokesman, however, insisted that bringing back the British army was not on the agenda.
