ON THE RISE
New IRA’s letter bomb attacks are latest sign small group of Republican hardliners is growing into a terrifying threat
The terror group is made up of disgruntled ex-Provisional IRA members and dissidents from other groups
THE New IRA has claimed responsibility for four letter bombs found in London and Scotland last week - it's latest bid to up the ante in its campaign of terror.
Counter-terror cops launched an investigation after the packages were discovered at Heathrow, London City Airport and Waterloo station on March 5.
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Saoradh, the supposed political wing of the New IRA, called the group as the “Irish Republican Army”, and ended its own press release with the statement: “It is clear that this is an unfinished revolution!”
The group, which said five letter bomb devices were sent but only four were recovered, is made up of disgruntled ex-Provisional IRA members combined with dissidents from other groups.
But this is just the latest sign that the New IRA is hell-bent on becoming a major terror threat after a car bomb went off in Derry in January while security forces have also seen an increase in punishment beatings.
The group has strongholds in , north Armagh, parts of south Armagh, and Strabane in Co Tyrone while a lot of its leaders are now on stringent bail conditions and are being closely watched by MI5.
Some of its senior leaders have been caged – most recently for his part in the murder plot of a policeman.
McVeigh, who was jailed last week, denied the charges and refused to recognise the court.
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The group has been described by some as "amateurish" and desperately wants to drop 'New' from its title. The they only want to be referred to as 'The IRA', its Troubles-era predecessors.
This was also clear from their call to the Irish News on Monday using a "recognised codeword" when the caller claimed to be "the IRA".
Despite their efforts, security forces in Northern Ireland still refer to them as new, ";because it p***es them off."
The group are also bidding to emulate terror groups who went before them and came together in 2012 after a merger of splinter groups which emerged after the Provisional IRA decommissioned weapons in 2007 as part of the peace process.
The most high profile element of that merger is the Real IRA, who killed 31 people in the horrific Omagh bombing in 1998.
Since 2012 the newly formed New IRA has been responsible for a number of attacks and murders.
Last month the group's leader in Dublin, Kevin Braney, 44, was jailed life for the “premeditated" murder of Peter Butterly, 35.
SIGNS OF RESURGENCE
In January of this year two men – suspected of being members of the New IRA – were arrested as part of an investigation into a car bomb attack in Derry that month.
The PSNI blamed the New IRA for that attack, which was widely criticised by political leaders both north and south including Northern Ireland secretary Karen Bradley, Tanaiste Simon Coveney and DUP’s Arlene Foster.
Last month Gardai from the Special Branch and Special Tactics and Operations Command and a mortar tube in Omeath, Co Louth.
Follow up searches nearby as part of operations targeting dissidents.
Evidence of paramilitary-style activity and attacks in Northern Ireland been popping up all too frequently - with punishment shootings or "kneecapping", a technique favoured by paramilitaries in the Troubles, on the increase.
In 2018 alone 24 “punishment” shootings were carried out in the North – a rise of 60 per cent in four years.
In September last year, a young man, 18, was shot in each arm and leg near Ballymoney in Co Antrim.
These attacks are not uncommon, and they are not the only sign the group is growing in confidence.
Security sources have said the organisation is trying to recruit disaffected youths who have also been involved in criminality, while the that many caught up in anti-social behavior have been attracted to their ranks.
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Attacks on the families of Catholic police officers have hardened divides in the community while there has also been a failure to build up a relationship between nationalists and the PSN.
Sources suggest the power vacuum that's existed with the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive two years ago has only increased disenfranchisement among recruits targeted by the group while there are concerns that Brexit and the fears of a hard border could be further exploited for propaganda and radicalisation.
All this suggests that the New IRA have the determination to grow into a terrifying threat that security forces must take seriously.
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