Mirror
Victoria McMahon
Terror group perfects bomb-making technique
THE Real IRA is ready to launch a terror campaign after perfecting the bomb-making techniques that caused carnage during the Troubles, it has been revealed. The RIRA was behind the 250lb bomb which exploded outside Newry Courthouse last month, and explosives experts warned security forces to prepare for a fresh wave of death and destruction on the streets. Newry's explosion proved RIRA bombmakers have perfected the fertiliser mix which made the Provos so deadly.
A security source said: "The security risk is too high to mix just two bags of fertiliser for the Newry bomb alone. The security implications of grinding down fertiliser, clearing the icing sugar, the risk of getting caught, they wouldn't do it for two fertiliser bags. It's more likely to be half a tonne or up to a tonne like the Provisionals used to
"There could be a 1,000lb landmine somewhere. They probably made enough for four more Newrys, but people mightn't be as lucky next time."
Until now the security forces knew the RIRA had the will but not necessarily the ability to carry out another atrocity like Omagh in 1998, when 29 people and unborn twins were killed.
What stood in their way was an EU directive cutting the amount of nitrogen in fertiliser, meaning the chemical mix for bombs didn't work. A security source said: "The RIRA have been trying to find the right quantities of icing sugar and fertiliser.
"Obviously they now have the right chemistry worked out." M15 agents are faced with the further problem of keeping track of the terror group's members as it has different factions since a split with its chief Michael McKevitt.
A source revealed: "There are different pockets of them. They have a strong presence in the North West especially Derry, Donegal, East Tyrone and Dungannon brigade plus the Dundalk and South Armagh and Louth brigade.
"They each have their own leaders, there's no obvious Army Council like the Provos, so it is very hard to manage from a security point of view."
Security agents believe the group's fragmented nature is a ploy by chiefs who saw the old central command structure as deeply flawed.
They believe the Provisionals' militarystyle command pushed it towards a ceasefire and giving up armed struggle.
The RIRA also appears to have overcome the backlash from the 1998 Omagh atrocity. Before the attack it was gathering momentum in republican communities where people felt disenchanted with the peace process. But outrage over the massacre forced the RIRA to ditch terror. In recent months those areas that turned their backs on the group appear to be softening their attitude to the bombers.
Another security source said: "They are now sending out a message that they have the confidence that they are a serious outfit. "It's one thing going in and shooting two soldiers at Massereene but they are now going back to taking car bombs into a nationalist town. "They must be very confident that people in Newry won't say 'well I saw X driving a car and abandoning it in town.' "They have that confidence that the community will accept them. "They are sending out a message to those in their community that they are a professional outfit and they are tapping into the community's hardening attitudes." As a result their numbers have been steadily increasing although they are still thought to be less than 200.
The Real IRA is following the violent path laid by the Provos of using punishment beatings and shootings against drug dealers and local thugs to "bed in" with republican and nationalist communities.
About 30 punishment beatings happened in Belfast alone last year. In January the Cork faction claimed responsibility for the murder of drug dealer Gerard Stanton in a bid to gain notoriety in the city.
The most recent killing of one of the RIRA's own - Kieran Doherty in Derry this month - is yet another example of the dissident group flexing its muscles and "policing" their own areas. The dad-of-one was shot in execution style for alleged involvement with a criminal gang dealing drugs.
Francie Mackey, national chairman of the RIRA's political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, argues action against drug dealers is necessary because people are being let down by police and gardai. He said: "The Cork situation is the parents of young people are now being targeted by criminals and drug dealers and being threatened that they will be burned out of their homes. They are then having to borrow money from credit unions. It is going unnoticed. "The Garda and PSNI are obviously not dealing with it. The authorities have lost the power."
However, Queen's University head of Politics Professor Richard English disagrees. He said: "One of the reasons is to say there no satisfactory police force but it is also about exercising power within the community. "People will not voice opposition or speak out against them if they think there are people capable of killing. "It is also about mobilizing people, to say they are in business like the Provos."
But the groundswell of support the Provos had is currently the missing ingredient which will mean their campaign, although dangerous and deadly, will not rival the PIRA on scale.
But as one security source warned: "It doesn't take many terrorists to cause a pile of body bags."
A DEADLY HISTORY
1998: 500lb car bomb kills 29 people and two unborn twins in Omagh.
November 2007: PSNI officer shot in his car in Dungannon, Co Tyrone.
February 2008: RIRA say that, after three years of reorganisation, it is going back to "war".
May 2008: A PSNI officer is injured when a bomb explodes under his car in Co Tyrone.
September 2008: A man is shot in the neck near the Derry border.
October 2008: The same man was targeted in a pipe bomb attack.
March 2009: Gunmen kill Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar as they collect pizza at Massereene Barracks in Antrim.
August 2009: In Meigh, Co Armagh a Real IRA gang armed with a rocket launcher set-up a 'check-point' and hand out leaflets warning against co-operation with police on either side of the border.
February 2010: A mortar bomb is found outside Keady police station in Co Armagh.
WEAPONS/ARSENAL
THE RIRA initially took weapons from PIRA arms dumps under control of former Provo Quartermaster Michael McKevitt and other ex Provisionals. They spirited away Semtex, Uzi submachine guns, AK47 rifles, handguns, detonators and timing devices.
The defection of senior Provisional personnel also gave the RIRA the ability to make homemade explosives and improvised mortars, including the Mark 15 mortar capable of firing a 200lb shell.
The RIRA has a history of going abroad with shopping lists.
In 1999 security sources say they supplemented their weaponry by importing arms from Croatia, including military explosive TM500, CZ Model 25 submachine guns, modified AK-47 assault rifles with a folding stock, and RPG-18 and RPG-22 rocket launchers.
But the RIRA was dealt a blow in July 2000 when their bid to smuggle a second consignment of arms was foiled by Croatian police, who seized seven RPG-18s, AK-47 assault rifles, a m m o , detonators and 20 packs of TM500.
Again in 2001 RIRA members travelled to Slovakia to buy arms but were caught by MI5.
The men tried to buy five tonnes of plastic explosives, 2,000 detonators, 500 handguns, 200 rocket-propelledgrenades, missiles and sniper rifles, but were arrested and later jailed for 30 years.
NUMBERS/STRONGHOLDS
It is the largest rogue republican group in numbers with between 150 and 200 members.
Its strongholds are along the border counties of Armagh, Monaghan, Louth and Donegal. It also has a smattering of members in Dublin and Cork with a strong southern power base.
FUNDING
IT funds its weaponry arsenal with cash from its lucrative diesel, cigarette smuggling and money-laundering rackets which stretch along the border counties.
SPLINTER
Keeping track of the Real IRA's members is a challenge for security forces as it is split into so many factions.
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