Republican Watch - April 2002

Since the sectarian Pat Finucane Centre hasn't published it's April
edition yet, you can have ours:

1st April
There is a security alert in north Belfast near the route of a planned
Apprentice Boys parade. A controlled explosion has been carried out on
an object found behind an advertising hoarding at the junction of the
Crumlin and Woodvale Roads. In the past Republicans have attempted to
murder Protestant men, women and children participating in the
celebration of their culture. There is no reason to suspect anyone
other than the IRA/SF for this latest sectarian incident.
Source (BBC) 01-01a.doc

1st April
Nationalist mobs have attacked Protestants in the Limestone Rd area of
north Belfast. The area has been the scene of recent sectarian
violence, with prominent members of IRA/SF at the forefront.
Source (AN) 01-02a.doc

2nd April
Army bomb experts have been called to an army base in County
Londonderry following a security alert. Officers are examining a
suspicious van at Shackleton Barracks in Ballykelly. Dukes Lane and
Main Street in the town have been cordoned off and a number of people
have been evacuated from their homes.
Source (BBC) 02-01a.doc

3rd April
Gerry Adams has hinted that he will decline an invitation by US
Congress to present Sinn Fein/IRA's version of events surrounding the
arrest of 3 members of IRA/SF in Colombia, on charges of training
Marxist narco-terrorist's FARC. Mr Adams had been asked to appear this
month before the House international relations committee's hearings on
"The IRA in Colombia - the global links of international terrorism".
Source (NT) 03-01a.doc

3rd April
Amid growing suspicion that the IRA broke into the Castlereagh police
complex in east Belfast and stole top secret security files, John
O`Hagan, 29, has been accused of possessing information likely to be
useful to terrorists planning an act of violence. He was one of six
people seized by police investigating the major breach during a series
of swoops. Although none of the documents were discovered at O'Hagans
home, police found computer disks containing a hit-list of British
politicians.
Source (UTV) 03-02a.doc

4th April
Detectives investigating the Castlereagh break-in have travelled to
New York to question a former worker at the police base. It is
understood the FBI has already interrogated the man. Security sources
in the North are insisting the Provisional IRA is linked to the
break-in, during which highly sensitive intelligence documents were
removed from Special Branch offices.
Source (IT) 04-01a.doc

4th April
A mother of a 12-week-old baby said on Wednesday she is fearful of
leaving her home after being savagely attacked by three men. Danielle
Mitchell, 17, was attacked on Tuesday morning in the Glandore Avenue
area of north Belfast.
She left her Shore Road home around 5.30am to buy cigarettes for her
mother at a nearby petrol station. She never made it.

"Three wee lads came out to me, maybe from a side street, and asked me
if I was a Protestant or a Catholic. I didn't answer them. The next
thing something was thrown at my head, I don't know what it was. They
trailed me by the hair and started kicking and punching me. They kept
jumping on my legs as if they were trying to break them. They kept
saying 'Who's the hard one now?' They also grabbed me by the throat."

Danielle said she has no idea why she was targeted. "I have never been
attacked before, neither have any of my friends nor family. I don't
know why this has happened. I'm in agony. I have grazes and bruises on
both legs, my arms are badly bruised and my head is very sore. I can't
even chew anything because it's so painful."  She said she will be
frightened to go walking alone again. "I'll be scared of leaving the
house now in case this happens again. I don't think much of the people
responsible for this."

North Belfast community worker Eddie McClean said Protestants need to
be vigilant. "There is a lot of cry about nationalists being attacked
in the Yorkgate area. This attack shows that Protestants are
vulnerable, too. This is a vulnerable victim, the mum of a 12-week-old
baby. The sectarianism in the area is getting worse. These idiots need
to be caught."
Source (BNL) 04-02a.doc

4th April
Detectives have made two arrests in connection with an ongoing
investigation into a security breach at Belfast's main police
headquarters. One person was arrested in Londonderry and one in
Belfast on Thursday. The man arrested in Derry is prominent republican
Raymond McCartney, a former IRA/SF leader in the Maze prison and close
associate of IRA/SF death squad commander Martin "Bogside Butcher"
McGuinness. The arrests followed a search of a house in Fernabbey
Close in the Shantallow area of Derry. A Special Branch officer was
assaulted and documents taken when three men entered an office inside
the Castlereagh complex, in Belfast, on St Patrick's Day.
Source (BBC) 04-03a.doc (II) 04-03b.doc

4th April
Sinn Fein has come under fire for showing disrespect to the Queen
Mother at the monthly meeting of Belfast City Council last night.
Ulster Unionist Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers proposed that the meeting be
postponed and that councillors observed a moment's silence to pay
respect to the "much loved member of the Royal family".
But none of Sinn Fein's 14 representatives entered the chamber to
observe the silence, although several were in the City Hall Speaking
after the meeting was adjourned the nationalist SDLP's Pat McCarthy
slammed Sinn Fein's behaviour as "immature". Party colleague Peter
O'Reilly added: "This was only a minute in which to pay respect. What
about the equality agenda and respect Sinn Fein talk about? It appears
they set the agenda just to suit their rights."
Source (BT) 04-04a.doc

5th April
Republican graffiti that cruelly mocked the Queen Mother's death has
been removed in east Belfast. Two large daubings on walls in the
nationalist Short Strand have been removed. On the wall of the Citybus
depot "Royal Family - where's your granny? Ha Ha", has now been
painted over by Translink. The transport group condemned the graffiti
"utterly" and said that they had taken prompt action to remove it, "as
we always do with all graffiti". Another reference to the Queen
Mother, which was written on a wall facing the Protestant Woodstock
Link and read, "1900-2002 - it's about time", also appears to have
gone. Sinn Fein/IRA are suspected of being responsible for the
provocative graffiti.
Source (BT) 05-01a.doc

6th April
Former leader of the Republic of Ireland political party, the
Progressive Democrats Des O'Malley yesterday launched a blistering
attack on Sinn Fein and said he was confident they would not be in
government after the general election. "And I'm very glad of that. I
don't want to see a situation where government decisions to appoint
senior judges or gardai have to be approved by the army council of the
IRA, sitting in some pub in south Armagh," he said.
Source (II) 06-01a.doc

6th April
In another IRA/SF gunrunning case, 59-year-old Belfast-native Bernard
Maserati Meli has been sentenced to 1-year imprisonment by a judge in
the United States of America. Meli, who was arrested by the FBI
anti-terrorism unit on Nov. 26 last year in Miami, was convicted of
illegally purchasing 2 handguns that were then sent to Northern
Ireland. Federal authorities contacted INTERPOL and the Police Service
of Northern Ireland in an attempt to unearth more about the
59-year-old Meli. But all they could find was charges against him in
connection with running a brothel in Belfast and forgery.
Source (Iec) 06-02a.doc

6th April
Up to 200 Special Branch officers have been urged to increase personal
security in the wake of a raid on a Northern Ireland police station.
As police continue to blame the IRA/SF for stealing intelligence files
during a daring break-in at the Castlereagh complex in east Belfast,
sources confirmed a fresh risk assessment has been carried out.
One confirmed: "They have been told to step up their security."
Highly sensitive documents, including details on informants and their
police handlers, were snatched from a Special Branch office during the
March 17 robbery. After a series of police swoops in Belfast and
Londonderry saw nine people arrested, including close associates of
both Gerry Adams and Martin "Bogside Butcher" McGuinness, the IRA/SF
was dramatically linked to the infiltration at the station.
Source (AN) 06-03a.doc (TS) 06-03b.doc (NT) 06-03c.doc

7th April
Scottish customs chiefs botched a crucial terrorist drugs operation
and allowed the Provisional IRA/SF to buy an ecstasy pill-making
machine, according to a former intelligence agent. The claims are made
by Kevin Fulton, a former British soldier who worked undercover within
the IRA/SF. Now turned whistleblower, Fulton claims the 'sting', in
1995, was bungled from the start and resulted in the machine, which
can produce over 7000 ecstasy tablets an hour, being smuggled through
Scotland to Ireland. Fulton was undercover in the IRA/SF and being
handled by a number of agencies, including Special Branch and MI5, at
the time. He said he and another IRA/SF man bought the machine in
Blackpool for £5000.
Source (SH) 07-01a.doc

7th April
A car bomb has killed 10 people in Colombia. In another visible case
of the results of IRA/Sinn Fein training of FARC narco-terrorists a
car bomb exploded in the entertainment district of a provincial
capital Sunday, killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 60,
authorities said.
Source (AP) 07-02a.doc

8th April
The County Tyrone home of an assembly member for the nationalist SDLP
has been attacked with petrol bombs.
Two cars outside the house of Eugene McMenamin in Strabane were also
destroyed. Mr McMenamin said he was relieved his house had not caught
fire. "I view this as attempted murder. The two cars are practically
burnt to cinders. But they are relatively minor. This could have been
a major incident. "My home could have been burnt to the ground," he
said. It is the second time Mr McMenamin's home has been attacked by
republicans. Just over two years ago it was daubed with slogans. Mr
McMenamin said he believed his home had been attacked because he had
made recent comments in the local press in support of the province's
new policing arrangements.
Source (BBC) 08-01a.doc

9th April
Speaking at last week's joint Garda-PSNI conference, a senior PSNI
officer presented information that the IRA was still procuring arms
and military equipment. He also said it was targeting police,
government and political figures.
The conference was held at the Garda College in Templemore, Co
Tipperary. It heard that the IRA was said to be "very active" in areas
of training, recruiting, targeting and procurement.

More than one source said that the IRA acquired "probably hundreds" of
guns from its smuggling operation in Florida in 1997-1999. Last month,
Maserati Meli, a 59-year-old man from a well-known chip-shop owning
family in west Belfast, pleaded guilty in a Florida court to
attempting to acquire 20 handguns which were to be smuggled to
Northern Ireland.It is believed that Meli's arrest last November as he
left a gun shop where he had tried to buy 20 handguns may have been
the incident which the PSNI officer, speaking in Templemore, was
referring to as arms procurement.

Other police sources in the Republic indicate that the IRA has carried
out at least two armed robberies since the start of the year: that of
a security lorry in Kerry in February and of another lorry carrying
confectionery in north Dublin.
Also, punishment shootings, beatings and expulsions continue in
Northern Ireland.

As members of the IRA were directing Gen de Chastelain of the
decommissioning commission and his team to an arms bunker at an
unknown location in the Republic on Saturday night, other members of
the same organisation were abducting a 20-year-old man in the
Twinbrook area of west Belfast. The man was taken to an alleyway of
Glasvey Close, where he was shot in both hands and both feet. Senior
security sources said yesterday that the second act of decommissioning
was expected before the general election in the Republic to assist
Sinn Féin's chances of winning seats.

But there was also some urgency on the IRA's part to carry out an act
of disarmament prior to the April 24th opening of the US Congress
hearing into links between the IRA and the Colombian terrorist group
FARC.
The Republican congressman, Mr Henry J. Hyde, chairman of the House
International Relations Committee, has called the Sinn Féin leader, Mr
Gerry Adams, to give evidence to the inquiry which is examining links
between FARC, the IRA and the Basque terrorist group, ETA. It is
expected the hearing could hear embarrassing claims about the IRA
sending up to two dozen figures to Colombia in recent years to train
FARC guerrillas in the use of bombs and mortars. The heads of both the
military and the police in Colombia are expected to give evidence to
the inquiry about evidence they have of people being trained by the
IRA. It is suspected the IRA was supplying arms training with the
technically less sophisticated FARC organisation in return for
funding. US sources say FARC makes up to $600 million per annum from
the control of cocaine production.
Source (IT) 09-01a.doc

9th April
Sick graffiti mocking the memory of the Queen Mother have been daubed
over walls in north Belfast. The offensive slogans about her death,
which have also been painted on walls near the city's Royal Victoria
Hospital, have been blamed on republicans. People passing the Butler
Walk area of Ardoyne on Sunday saw crude references to the Queen
Mother written in huge letters on a wall.

The cruel taunts, including the jeering words "ha, ha, ha", were
quickly painted over. A statement from the Concerned Residents of
Upper Ardoyne condemned the graffiti as "sick and eye-opening".

Upper Ardoyne community worker Mark Coulter said: "This is the real
face of Ardoyne republicans and not the picture of victimhood they
played out so well on Ardoyne Road during last year's
anti-intimidation protests in Glenbryn.
"Republicans' hate for anything British knows no bounds, nor does the
depths to which they will go to hurt us," he said. Mr Coulter added:
"How much hatred would someone need to have to make them say things
like that about the Queen Mum?"

Similar graffiti has appeared at the Grosvenor Road entrance of the
Royal Victoria Hospital.An employee said he was horrified by the tone
of the vandalism which is linked to references to the recent success
of Celtic Football Club. "Sectarian graffiti wouldn't normally bother
me but this is terrible," he said, "especially at this point in time
and it's been done to cause offence."
Source (BNL) 09-02a.doc (CW)

9th April
Six republicans were charged with firearms and ammunition offences in
Dublin today. The six men were arrested after a swoop on a house in
Dundalk last January and were charged today at the Dublin Special
Criminal Court. They have already been charged with membership of an
illegal organisation after they were arrested at a house in Nicholas
St, Dundalk on January 5.

The six are: Dalton McKevitt (26) of St Auban`s Avenue Road, Dundalk;
Niall Farrell (25) of Cedarwood Park, Dundalk; Tony O`Hare (40) of
Marian Park, Dundalk; Vincent McKevitt (44) of Mountain Court, Point
Road, Dundalk; Alan Browne (35) of a separate address in Mountain
Court; and Eoin Quigley (29) of Oakland Park, Dundalk.

Today they were charged with the unlawful possession of a double
barrelled shotgun and a 9 millimetre semi automatic pistol at Nicholas
St, Dundalk on January 5th last. They were also charged with the
unlawful possession of 16 rounds of 9mm caliber ammunition and four
shotgun cartridges on the same date. All the men, except Vincent Mc
Kevitt, were remanded in custody until April 29th. Mc Kevitt was
remanded on continuing bail until the same date. They are already
charged that on Saturday, 5th January 2002 within the state, they were
members of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish
Republican Army, otherwise the IRA, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann.
Source (UTV) 09-03a.doc

9th April
Four of Armagh's Sinn Fein councillors, including the chairperson of
the council's public services liaison committee, stayed outside the
chamber last night while a standing tribute was paid to the Queen
Mother. When the meeting began the vice-chair, Councillor Heather
Black (DUP), presided and asked fellow councillors to stand to mark
the "sad passing of our beloved Queen Mother" and in sympathy with the
Queen. All members present - Ulster Unionist, DUP and SDLP - stood in
silence.
Source (BT) 09-04a.doc

10th April
A (so-called dissident) republican was today jailed for three years by
the Special Criminal Court in Dublin for membership of an illegal
organisation. Ruairai Convey, 25, of Newbrook Avenue, Donaghmede,
Dublin, had pleaded guilty to membership of an organisation styling
itself the IRA, otherwise known as Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the
Irish Republican Army on 6th June 2001. The court heard that during a
search of Convey's home, detectives found a hand-written note
containing the names of two members of the gardai's Emergency Response
Unit along with photographs of a masked man at a bonfire in Belfast.
Source (IT) 10-01a.doc

11th April
Three Irishmen are due to go on trial in London today for allegedly
trying to buy arms for the IRA in Slovakia. 35-year-old Fintan
O'Farrell, 41-year-old Declan Rafferty and 44-year-old Michael
McDonald, all from Co Louth, were arrested in the Slovakian town of
Piest'any on July 5th last year and were later extradited to Britain.
They are all facing five charges, including conspiring to buy weapons
"while having reasonable cause to suspect that they would or might be
used for the purpose of terrorism". The trial is expected to last
between six to eight weeks.
Source (II) 11-01a.doc

11th April
Two republicans caught red-handed with a grenade launcher, the first
to be found in Northern Ireland, were both given three-year prison
terms yesterday. The court heard in October 2000, police went to
search the Glenbawn Court, Poleglass, home of 42-year-old Anthony
Joseph Hilling. His co-defendant, 24-year-old Stephen McCormick from
Craiglee Way, Newtownards, was also in the house at the time. While
searching the house, police found a grenade launcher wrapped in
tinfoil and a black plastic bag along with four maroon flares under a
bed. However, the weapon had been adapted with a homemade shoulder
stock so that it could be fired "like a rifle".

As well as the launcher, police also found an electronic scanner, used
to detect 'bugs' such as tracking devices, on the coffee table in the
living room. During police interviews, McCormick told police he had
met Hilling in the Sinn Fein office on the Falls Road and a friendship
had developed between the pair. McCormick also told police that he had
been given the scanner by a man who worked at the Sinn Fein
headquarters and had been told, "to work out how it worked."

It was revealed to the court that in 1988, Hilling had received a
suspended sentence for causing a bomb hoax and for carrying an
imitation gun. Hilling walked free after receiving a three-year jail
term suspended for three years. McCormick was given a three-year jail
term.
Source (II) 11-02a.doc (BT) 11-02b.doc

12th April
A US congressional investigation has concluded that members of the
Irish Republican Army were training Colombian guerrillas in urban
terrorism, posing a direct threat to the US and the stability of the
region. The investigation by the House international relations
committee reflects a sharp reversal in congressional support for the
IRA, at a time when the US is attempting to extend its engagement in
Colombia from the war on drugs to the broader war on terror.

Cass Ballenger, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the House
western hemisphere subcommittee, identified the IRA's role in Colombia
as a key argument for the US to support the Colombian military's
renewed conflict with the Farc Marxist guerrillas. "The presence of
the IRA terrorists illustrates clearly the potential for a broader
international terrorist threat to the United States, financed by
illicit drugs in an Andean nation," he told a hearing on Thursday
Source (FT) 12-01a.doc (AN) 12-01b.doc (BT) 12-01c.doc

12th April
Police believe they may have foiled plans for a terrorist attack in
London it emerged today. The scare began at 8pm on Tuesday, the day of
the Queen Mother's funeral, when an officer stopped a car near London
Bridge. He spoke to the driver who then sped off. Later, the car -
which had Northern Ireland plates - was found abandoned in nearby
Mincing Lane, just north of the River Thames. The driver and passenger
had disappeared and the area around the blue-grey Ford Granada was
sealed off as police carried out a controlled explosion. They are
believed to have found empty fertilizer bags in the car.
Source (UTV) 12-02a.doc

13th April
Republican terrorists have launched blast-bomb attacks on two Police
Stations. The first attack was at 2250 BST on Friday in Downpatrick,
when two explosions were heard. A hole in the outer fence of the
police station was later found. About 20 minutes later after the first
blast, there was another explosion at Ardglass police station, a few
miles away. Chief Inspector Jeffrey Gamble said people living near
both stations were put at risk: "This was an attack intending to cause
death or injury but very reckless as innocent members of the public
were driving or walking past at the time."
Source (BBC) 13-01a.doc

13th April
The IRA is part of a global terrorist network and has provided Libyan
bombing technology that killed civilians in Spain and in Central
America, says the Pentagon. Three alleged IRA men captured in Bogota
last summer face charges of supplying mortars and explosives training
to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc). The Pentagon
believes Farc mortars were developed from the IRA's "barrack buster"
mortar and that more than two dozen IRA members have been to Colombia
in recent years. Evidence of these links is due to be presented to a
House International Relations Committee hearing entitled "The IRA in
Colombia - the Global Links of International Terrorism" beginning on
April 24.
Source (II) 13-02a.doc

15th April
The Gaelic Athletic Association's (GAA) Annual Congress has voted by a
substantial margin to keep what it calls "foreign" games out of Croke
Park. Referring to the scandal of Paedophile Priests the
organisation's incoming president urged support for "our priests and
religious in their greatest hour of need" and to rapturous applause
told the assembled bigots he looked forward to the day when Ireland
would be "united and free" and "the fourth green field" returned to
the nation. Later, at a press conference, he was asked if declaring
his wish for a united Ireland was any business of the GAA, "It's one
of our aspirations." He replied.
Source (II) 15-01a.doc

15th April
Sinn Fein has a "yellow streak", the Republic of Ireland's Attorney
General Mr McDowell said last night. He was among those who criticised
Sinn Féin for eulogising its Republican dead in a dinner attended by
2,500 people in Dublin at the weekend. Ms Bríd Rodgers, deputy leader
of the SDLP, condemned the Sinn Féin president, Mr Gerry Adams, for
"repulsive revisionism" in his speech at the dinner in Citywest in
Dublin on Saturday night. The event, "Tírghrá" ("Love of Country"),
was organised to honour the IRA's dead. "They are willing on a quiet
basis to celebrate their paramilitary links," said Mr McDowell, "but
when they are asked by members of two democratic bodies which they
claim to respect - the US Congress and the Oireachtas - to come before
them to discuss their activities in Colombia, they point-blank
refuse." Mr McDowell, a Progressive Democrat election candidate in
Dublin South East, said people would draw their own inferences from
that.

Mr Adams had praised the "extraordinary calibre" of IRA volunteers but
Mrs Rodgers said the Sinn Fein president's "glorification" of IRA
violence would appall the vast majority of people. "What was glorious
about the murders of innocent civilians in Belfast, London or Claudy?
What was glorious about the murders of workmen on their way home from
work? Not only the loved ones of unionist victims but also those of
the large numbers of nationalist more of whom were murdered by the IRA
than by loyalists and security forces together will be appalled by
this attempt by Gerry Adams not merely to justify but to glorify the
horrendous deeds of the last 30 years."
Source (IT) 15-02a.doc (AN) 15-02b.doc

15th April
A Protestant man has been stabbed four (4) times after being attacked
in North Belfast. The father-of-three is believed to have stepped in
to save a young woman from being attacked, it was claimed on Monday.
The victim suffered a punctured lung and was rushed to the Royal
Victoria Hospital where his injuries were said to be non-life
threatening. On Monday, police issued an appeal for more information
regarding another four men believed to have been involved and a dark
coloured car seen in the area which that may have been used. The
attack took place in an alleyway between Mulderg Drive and the
Whitewell Road at around 10.45pm. A woman who witnessed the attack
said the assailant wore an "evil" expression and had shown no fear
even as more people had come into the alley and witnessed the beating.
"He just wouldn't stop beating him, no matter what. He didn't care how
many more people were coming up the entry to help him - the victim -
he just kept going."

A statement issued by residents in White City claimed a number of cars
entered the area on Sunday night from the nearby nationalist area of
Longlands and said that the man had intervened when a teenage girl was
threatened by one of several groups. They said golf clubs and a
baseball bat studded with nails were used. Detectives declined to
comment on the motives or cause of the attack except to confirm that
they were treating it as a sectarian incident. They also stated that
the victim was not already known to them. Condemning the incident, MP
for north Belfast Nigel Dodds said it represented an "escalation of
the difficulties already apparent in the area", and said it backed up
his earlier calls for tighter security and the installation of CCTV
cameras. "This incident took place near to where another young person
was killed recently and demonstrates the vulnerability of those living
in the area", he said. SDLP MLA Alban Maginness said it was a "vicious
attack", and that it was important for the situation not to escalate
into further violence.
Source (BBC) 15-03a.doc (BNL) 15-03b.doc (EW) (CW)

16th April
A 62-year-old Wexford man was yesterday found guilty of membership of
the IRA by the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. Convicting Thomas
(Tom) Redmond with addresses at The Grove, Clonard, Co Wexford, and
The Gate Post, Forth Commons, Co Wexford, the court accepted Garda
evidence that Mr Redmond "had associations" with firearms. This
corroborated the opinion of Chief Supt Michael Murphy that Redmond was
a member of an unlawful organisation. Redmond had pleaded not guilty
to membership of the IRA, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the
Irish Republican Army, on October 1st, 1999.
Source (IT) 16-01a.doc

16th April
The husband of a woman who died in the IRA's Shankill Road bomb,
yesterday (Monday) spoke of the hurt caused by a tribute to
republicans killed during the group's terror campaign. Alan McBride,
whose wife, Sharon, was among nine people killed in the bombing of a
fish shop in October, 1993, said the commemoration dinner at a Dublin
hotel at the weekend had been offensive because it was "unnecessarily
public and triumphalist". The event, which has sparked fury among both
unionists and nationalists, was organised by Sinn Fein for 450
families of dead republican activists and terrorists. Mr McBride said
everyone had the right to mourn and remember their loved ones but
questioned why Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein felt they had to turn the
gathering into such a public affair. "I don't see how it contributes
to the building of peace, because it offends me," said Mr McBride. One
of the people being commemorated was Thomas Begley, the IRA man who
died planting the Shankill bomb. "He murdered my wife in a very cruel
and very callous fashion on the Shankill Road in a fashion not unlike
the suicide bombers in Palestine," said Mr McBride.
Source (BNL) 16-02a.doc

16th April
There have been serious disturbances in the Limestone Road area of
north Belfast after nationalists attacked a Protestant woman on her
way to collect her young child from Currie Primary School. The school,
attended by Protestant schoolchildren has been the focal point of
anti-Protestant aggression for several years.
Source (BBC) 16-03a.doc

16th April
A 35-year-old Roman Catholic man has been remanded in custody after
the sectarian stabbing of a Protestant father of three in the White
City area of Belfast earlier in the week. Martin Joseph Finley is
accused of a knife attack on a Protestant man in White City on Sunday.
He was remanded in custody for a week at Laganside Magistrates Court
on a charge of "unlawfully and maliciously causing grievous bodily
harm" to his alleged victim, who remains stable in hospital.
Source (BT) 16-04a.doc

16th April
'Residents of a tiny loyalist housing estate in the heart of west
Belfast today spoke of their fear after a series of attacks they have
blamed on their nationalist neighbours. Suffolk estate on the
outskirts of west Belfast is surrounded by mainly nationalist areas
such as Lenadoon, Twinbrook, Poleglass and Andersonstown. And
residents from the estate today said they were in constant fear
following a number of recent attacks on several teenage boys. One
teenager, whose mother asked to keep his name anonymous, revealed how
he was beaten around the head with a brick and as a result underwent
an operation to remove bits of skull from his brain.

Other women living in Suffolk talked of being attacked by bricks,
stones and fireworks thrown by nationalists. The situation has become
so bad for one mother that she is now moving out of the area. And
Church of Ireland minister, Rev Clive Atkinson, said his congregation
are regularly verbally abused, spat on and intimidated going to and
leaving his church.

The mother of the 16-year-old boy who suffered head injuries after
being beaten with a brick, who also wished to remain nameless, said:
"He was going to the Co-Op (on the Stewartstown Road) which is used by
both religions, to get sweets a few weeks ago, when a number of
Catholics came at him and his mates. "One of them hit him with a brick
and fractured his skull. He's been told by the doctor that if he ever
gets hit on the head again he could end up in a wheelchair. "This area
is not safe for Protestants."

Thirty-three-year-old Karen Weir, whose son was beaten with an iron
bar last year, has decided to move from the area for the safety, she
says, of not just her son but also herself. She said: "The Co-Op is
the only shop in the area but there's no way I would walk there at
night. I'm sick of having to look over my shoulder, and I've had
enough."
Also speaking of her fear was Jacqueline Suttie, who said her son was
badly beaten on his birthday last year by a gang of three men on the
Stewartstown Road. She recalled: "His face was that badly swollen that
at first we didn't know whether anything was broken." '
Source (BT) 16-05a.doc (EW)

17th April
There has been an explosion outside a police training college in
Belfast. A police patrol was investigating reports of suspicious
activity outside Garnerville college when they discovered a suspect
parcel at about 2300BST on Tuesday. The army bomb squad was called in
and about 100 people within the college were evacuated, along with the
residents of several surrounding homes. The device exploded just after
midnight while it was being examined, a police spokesman said.
Source (??)

18th April
Several people are being questioned in connection with disturbances at
Army watchtowers in south Armagh last year. A number of people were
arrested in a security operation in south Armagh on Thursday morning.
Twenty-one police officers and three soldiers were injured when SF/IRA
gang members attacked the security forces near Crossmaglen on 9
December.
Source (BBC) 18-01a.doc

18th April
A Roman Catholic taxi driver has been brutally murdered in IRA/SF
controlled Donaghmore, Co. Tyrone. 51-year-old Barney McDonald was
blasted in the head in a shotgun attack last night outside a snooker
club in Donaghmore on the outskirts of Dungannon. Security sources
today said initial indications were that the killing was connected to
a localised feud, possibly involving republicans, and was not
sectarian. Local sources believed the killers deliberately used
shotguns because the weapons cannot easily be traced through ballistic
tests. Mr McDonald, a father of eight, was called to pick up a fare at
Arthur's snooker club in Annaghbeg Park in Donaghmore at 11 p.m. on
Wednesday. Two men, lying in wait, opened fire with the two shotguns.
The victim was hit in the head and died instantly.

In a most peculiar case which casts doubt on many murders supposedly
claimed by loyalist paramilitaries in recent years, the Police and
local sources initially pointed the finger of suspicion at the
Provisional IRA/SF, claiming Mr McDonald had been the victim of a feud
with local PIRA/SF elements. However shortly after IRA/SF spokesman
Francie Malloy denied IRA/SF involvement and blamed loyalists, an
anonymous caller rang a Belfast Newsroom claiming the
recently-disbanded loyalist paramilitary the Red Hand Defenders were
responsible. However, there was a further twist when the victims
family blamed the Provisional IRA for the killing. They claimed it was
linked to a fight between Barney McDonald and a local IRA commander.

Speaking to The Irish Times, the McDonalds last night accused Sinn
Féin of "lies and hypocrisy". The daughter of murder victim Barney
McDonald claimed that he had been in a disagreement with a republican
and had been threatened. The killing was linked to a fight six weeks
ago between her father and a local IRA commander, she claimed. "The
Provos have long held a grudge against my family. My brother Brian was
in a bar playing pool last month when he was followed outside by three
Provos who acted in an intimidating way. My father tackled them about
it. A fight developed and one of the Provos was hurt." The senior IRA
commander was in hospital for three days recovering from his injuries,
according to local people. They said the man and his unit were deeply
embarrassed by the incident and were set on revenge. "People knew
something would happen to Barney" one man said. Ms McDonald said the
Provisional IRA visited the home of her father's girlfriend
afterwards. "They told her to tell him they were the real IRA, they
would sort him out, and he would soon know about it." One local
resident rubbished the possibility of loyalist involvement. "This was
a small private snooker club in a residential area. Loyalists would
not even know where it was."

Mr McDonald's son, Paul, was badly injured in an IRA punishment attack
two years ago. He died in a car crash a month later. Another son,
Eugene, was killed in a car crash eight years ago and Mr McDonald's
wife died last year.
Source (BBC) 18-02a.doc (BNL) 18-02b.doc (UTV) 18-02c.doc
(BT)18-02d.doc (IT) 18-02e.doc

18th April
Trouble has flared in north Belfast after Republican gang members
fired live rounds into a Protestant housing estate. The gunman is
alleged to have opened fire on residents of the tiny Loyalist estate
of Glenbryn from the vast Republican Ardoyne area. Loyalists say the
security cameras should now be checked to see if live rounds were
fired. Billy Hutchinson of the PUP said: "The security people need to
be checking the cameras, the whole point of the cameras being there
was so as they could make arrests. If people were firing shots it
should be taken seriously
and I`m not sure that they are taking it seriously…they should be
looking for strike marks and take evidence to arrest the person with
the gun."
Source (UTV) 18-03a.doc

19th April
Yet again the IRA/SF ceasefire has been shown to be a farce. In the
most recent incident updated IRA intelligence files, which include a
list of senior members of the Conservative Party, have been found by
detectives in Northern Ireland. The files are also said to have
details on Army bases in Britain, and security sources say they
believe the IRA's intelligence gathering operation has been updated in
the past few weeks.

Conservative spokesman on Northern Ireland Quentin Davies claimed the
discovery cast major doubts on the IRA`s ceasefire and Prime Minister
Tony Blair`s assessment of it. Just days after he visited the
staunchly republican south Armagh area, Mr Davies said: ``It comes in
a week in which the IRA has been accused of procuring new weapons and
of involvement in the murder of a taxi driver in Co Tyrone." Ulster
Unionist Policing Board member Fred Cobain said: "If there is evidence
that the Provisional IRA is targeting people, especially high level
politicians in the Tory Party, then that has serious repercussions for
the whole process. We cannot go on pretending things are all right
when one of the parties to the peace process may be undermining it."

Nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan claimed ongoing IRA activity was a
``cause of continuing concern`` to many in the peace process. Northern
Ireland`s Deputy First Minister said: "We have all known that the IRA
has continued to be active at a number of different levels since the
ceasefire. The only people who have been in denial of this at times
have been Sinn Fein spokespersons."

Politicians in the Irish Republic warned that the discovery of the
hit-list could undermine the peace process and block loyalist
decommissioning in the province. Irish Labour Party leader, Ruairi
Quinn, said: ``The republican movement cannot have an each way bet,
they are either committed to the peace process or they are not." Fine
Gael leader Michael Noonan added: "If the hit-list today is of recent
origin, this is a matter of serious concern which requires immediate
clarification."
Source (BBC) 19-01a.doc (UTV) 19-01b.doc (BT) 19-01c.doc

19th April
A FURIOUS SDLP councillor today clashed with Sinn Fein members outside
his Londonderry home as a bomb disposal team examined a suspect device
tied to his front gate. Pat Ramsey blamed republicans for sparking the
bomb alert which forced 150 people to be evacuated from their homes in
the Bogside shortly before 9am this morning. The device was later
declared an elaborate hoax. And Mr Ramsey, who said he believed the
attack was linked to an ongoing row between his party and Sinn Fein
over the involvement of PSNI officers at Derry City Council meetings,
angrily dismissed attempts by Sinn Fein members to offer support to
his family.

Today's attack was the third incident at the homes of SDLP councillors
in the North West in recent weeks.A fortnight ago two cars outside the
home of Strabane councillor Eugene McMenamin were completely destroyed
in a petrol bomb attack, and an elaborate hoax device was also found
outside the home of Derry councillor Helen Quigley.

Mr Ramsey today accused republicans of targeting his home because of
his party's stance on policing. Mr Ramsey said the bomb alert had
terrified his family and neighbours. "It was a very frightening
experience," he said. "I have a daughter who is not even
two-years-old. I have elderly neighbours who can't even leave their
house. "I am a democrat and for people within the republican community
to think they can terrorise me and my neighbours in this way is
despicable," he added.
Source (BT) 19-02a.doc

19th April
Several Public Houses in Protestant areas of Belfast have been put on
"terror alert" after the Police received threats from Republican
murder gangs. It is understood that police told bar staff that they
had received a coded warning that pubs could be attacked. Bar staff
were warned to lock their doors on Friday night.
Source (SL) 19-03a.doc

20th April
A leading republican has been arrested in connection with the murder
of Catholic taxi driver Barney McDonald. The funeral of the County
Tyrone man, murdered as he went to collect a fare, is due to take
place on Saturday. The leading IRA/SF gang member, Frankie Quinn (35),
was arrested in the Dungannon area on Saturday. Mr McDonald was shot
dead on Wednesday as he sat in his car in Donaghmore, where two gunmen
lay in wait. As he stopped outside the club on Annaghbeg Park, the
gunmen fired four shotgun blasts into his taxi. Mr McDonald died at
the scene. His family have blamed the Provisional IRA for the killing,
saying he had been involved in a row with a member of the organisation
a week before his death.
Source (BBC) 20-01a.doc (BT) 20-01b.doc (SL) 20-01c.doc

21st April
The IRA has been secretly rearming while pretending to be
decommissioning. In a flagrant breach of the Good Friday Agreement,
senior IRA commanders bought a consignment of powerful new Russian
special forces assault rifles in Moscow late last year. They bought at
least 20 AN-94s, which can fire 1,800 bullets a minute and pierce body
armour. The weapon can be used as a traditional machinegun or in
sniper mode as a high-velocity rifle for assassinations. The deal was
detected by the Russian security services, which passed details to
British military intelligence in London. Cabinet ministers were
briefed on it, along with senior Northern Ireland politicians.
Details remained secret, however, until being disclosed to the Sunday
Telegraph by military intelligence officers in London last week.

Quentin Davies, the Conservative Party's Northern Ireland spokesman,
said: "The Good Friday Agreement is a sham if the IRA are handing in
weapons with one hand and buying them again with the other. This,
coupled with the list targeting politicians, the Colombia affair and
the killings that continue in Northern Ireland, means that Sinn
Fein/IRA must now be called to account."

Critics said it was further evidence of the IRA continuing to build up
a huge arsenal, despite twice handing over a small quantity of largely
antiquated arms to General John de Chastelain's decommissioning body.
Last summer, three IRA men were held in Colombia after trying to
construct a new type of mortar bomb. Military intelligence officers
told the Sunday Telegraph that a senior IRA team was dispatched to
Moscow last autumn to buy the weapons from a renegade group of Russian
special forces officers. One said that the weapons have been bought so
that the IRA could "continue to be a well-oiled machine".

Siobhan Browne, who was jailed for buying guns for the IRA in Florida
in 1998, said last year that the terrorists were "gearing up for a
bloodbath, an ethnic cleansing". She described the Good Friday
Agreement as a "sham" and said that "the IRA will never give up their
guns".
Source (UTV) 21-01a.doc (SI) 21-01b.doc

21st April
Sinn Fein/IRA's connection with Colombian terrorists dates back to the
1980s when they were trained by paramilitary fighters linked to the
late drug baron Pablo Escobar. Three Irishmen accused of training
Colombian Marxist guerrillas in the use of explosives are currently
awaiting trial in Bogota after they were arrested in the Colombian
jungle last year. Recent IRA involvement in the South American state,
which has been rocked by a spate of car bombs and mortar attacks since
February, has been with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC) which shares similar political ideals.

However, Scotland on Sunday has discovered that the IRA's first
contacts in Colombia were paramilitaries involved in crime and drugs,
who murdered hundreds of civilians. According to a former militiaman,
the IRA first visited Colombia in the 1980s to learn about urban
warfare. In return they offered to teach the drug gangs about
explosives.
Former militia fighter 'Jairo', who insists on keeping his identity
secret, said he first worked with Irish terrorists in the 1980s as
they sought to learn techniques in urban warfare. In the 1980s, as
today, Medellin was divided into different sectors, controlled by
various factions - left-wing militias, right-wing paramilitary gangs,
drugs traffickers and common criminals. Jairo said: "Our leader was
commandante Pablo Garcia, one of the most powerful militia leaders,
with 150 gunmen under his command."

Remembering the violent days of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when
Medellin was dominated by the drug lord Pablo Escobar, Jairo added:
"You have to remember that in this period Medellin was experiencing an
urban conflict like no other, with ambushes and street operations
commonplace. That is what brought the foreigners. They wanted to learn
from our techniques of urban patrolling and ambushing. In turn they
taught explosives."

Among those foreigners were members of the Basque separatist group ETA
and Irishmen from the IRA. According to Jairo these men patrolled with
members of the urban militias, learning about ambushes, anti-ambush
drills and house clearing. The payoff was that the Spanish and Irish
offered their more advanced experience of explosives. These skills
were then put at the disposal of Escobar, who set off car bombs across
Medellin and Bogota forcing the Colombian government to suspend his
extradition to the United States in return for peace. Escobar was
finally killed in a shoot-out with government forces, but the IRA
training of Colombian fighters has continued, with FARC becoming the
benefactors.

The head of the Colombian armed forces, General Fernando Tapias, said
the latest wave of bombings launched by FARC revealed a new level of
explosives sophistication, imported from other "terrorist"
organisations. General Gary Speer of the US Southern Command was more
explicit when he answered questions posed by a Congressional Committee
in Washington earlier this month.

"The evidence suggests that the techniques used in the terrorist
campaign [of the FARC] were instructed by members of the IRA." The
connection between the IRA and FARC became clear when three IRA men
were arrested in Colombia last year, but they represent only the
latest of dozens of IRA visitors to the South American country. Niall
Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley have been awaiting trial
in Modelo prison in Bogota on charges of instructing the Marxist
rebels in explosives. The three were travelling on false passports,
but with the discovery of their true identities British intelligence
was able to provide the Colombian authorities with the men's colourful
histories. Both Monaghan and McCauley have served time in British
prisons for IRA attacks, and are known as explosives experts. Connolly
is Sinn Fein's representative to Cuba, and the only one who speaks
Spanish. He acted as the translator during the training.

In February, as the elite troops of the Rapid Deployment Force were
pressing an offensive against the FARC, they received an intelligence
tip-off that there was a guerrilla safe house in the town of El Dorado
in the southern province of Meta. An entire platoon of soldiers broke
in through the front door. It was boobytrapped, triggering an
explosion that killed 29. After the disaster, one of the guerrillas
responsible was captured. He said that the man who had planted the
bomb had been trained by foreigners, adding a description matching the
three Irishmen.

The second incident was last month in the city of Villavicencio, 45
miles south-east of the capital, Bogota. On a Saturday night two
explosions killed 12 and injured 67. "The use of a bomb as bait has
been done in Northern Ireland," said a military source, "but this was
something new to Colombia." The new techniques have also been seen in
mortar attacks. The firing devices and explosive charges have been
improved and accuracy is now significantly better. Intelligence
sources see the handiwork of the IRA behind the incidents.

While the FARC has been given state-of-the-art explosives training,
the Irishmen have been given money in return. 'Alexander', a FARC
witness, said he saw a contract signed between the guerrillas and the
Irishmen and that it was for money, although he did not see the
amount. According to intelligence sources, the IRA men were not alone
in Colombia. At the time of their arrest, another two managed to
escape across the Venezuelan border. Colombian military intelligence
believe at least 25 IRA members have been through Colombia.
Source (SoS) 21-02a.doc

21st April
Sinn Fein mobs have gone on the rampage through a Protestant area of
north Belfast. Police and soldiers came under blast and petrol bomb
attack during serious rioting. A police spokesman said they had come
under "sustained attack" from around 150 youths hurling petrol and
blast bombs, stones, fireworks and other missiles. At one point, some
of the rioters tried to drag a policewoman out of an armoured Land
Rover.

Protestants in nearby Twaddell Avenue said their homes had also come
under attack from "around 50 republicans" yesterday. It is understood
the mob threw bricks at houses and attempted to kick down the front
doors of a number of dwellings during the incident, which has been
captured on video camera.
One resident told how he had stood with his shoulder against his front
door as three attempts were made to "boot it in". "It was only the
metal bar across the door which saved it," he said. "I could see the
entire door frame moving each time they tried to smash it in."

Another Twaddell Avenue resident, Jacqueline Elliott, said rioters had
attacked her car which she uses to transport her disabled daughter.
She said her other daughter was "almost caught up" among rioters who
attacked her home. She added: "They ran in and kicked and kicked and
kicked the front door to try to get in. They smashed the front window
and front door window. There were so many of them it scared the living
daylights out of me."

Elderly residents were in tears after the incidents at Twaddell
Avenue. Community worker John MacVicar claimed the attack was
"entirely preventable" had "police provided a presence at the top of
Twaddell Avenue. Myself, Cllr Elaine McMillen and other residents had
all phoned the police to ask for protection for the area, once we
heard of the trouble on Ardoyne Road, yet none was provided, despite
Land Rovers being present in the general area," he said.
Source (BNL) 21-03a.doc

22nd April
A US Congressional Committee has compiled a dossier claiming that the
deadly effectiveness of the FARC guerrilla movement in Colombia was
strengthened as a result of IRA training, according to reliable
sources. The document reports that innocent people were killed
directly as a result of the alleged IRA training of FARC guerrillas,
the sources said last night. It adds that the IRA had a strong
relationship with the guerrilla organisation and that as many as 15
IRA members were involved in training in Colombia.
Three republicans - Mr James Monaghan, Mr Martin McCauley and Mr Niall
Connolly - are on remand in prison in Colombia since their arrest last
August as they tried to leave Bogota airport using false
passports.However, according to this information as many as 15
republicans have worked in the past with FARC. Moreover, it is also
claimed that the effectiveness of FARC was greatly enhanced as a
result of the alleged training by the IRA. It has already been claimed
that the training included improving expertise in bomb-making and
sophisticated mortar technology, with which the IRA was adept.

The document also states that innocent people were killed by FARC
because of the training and that US interests were badly damaged as a
result of this alleged relationship between FARC and the IRA, the
sources said.
On Wednesday, the US Congressional Committee on International
Relations will address the issue of the so-called Colombia Three and
their relationship with FARC. There has already been some briefing of
what the committee has elicited, which could be highly damaging to
Sinn Féin.
Source (IT) 22-01a.doc

24th April
THE IRA was linked to President Bush's "axis of evil" in Washington
last night when congressional investigators revealed that the Bogota
authorities believed Iranian terrorists had trained in the same part
of Colombia as the Provisionals. Placing the IRA within a global
network of terrorism, a report by the House International Relations
Committee concluded that Irish, Iranian, Cuban and possibly Spanish
groups had probably "been sharing techniques, honing their terrorism
skills, using illicit drug proceeds in payment". The report said
American lives were being put at risk by Provisional IRA activity in
Colombia, and that both Colombian democracy and US national security
is threatened. FARC and other terrorist groups in Colombia are thought
to be responsible for 90% of the cocaine and 70% of the heroin sold on
America's streets.
Source (NT) 24-01a.doc (BBC) 24-01b.doc

25th April
It's not only in Belfast and the United States where anti-Protestant
extremists have hi-jacked St. Patrick's day. According to a news
report it's been happening in England as well. ST Patrick's Day, 2002,
and Irish Republicans in berets and sunglasses march through the
streets of Liverpool. But today it was revealed that a former key
figure in the group that organised last month's march is linked to one
of Ireland's most radical extremist groups. Patrick McDonnell is the
former treasurer of ALIVE (A Liverpool Irish Voices Enterprise). But
he is also an ex-member of Republican Sinn Fein - the political wing
of the Continuity IRA. The RSF's military wing is the only Irish
paramilitary group not officially on ceasefire. McDonnell, 61, from
Toxteth, was convicted last year of harrassing a fellow activist in
Hemel Hempstead, after a campaign including a phone call in which a
man whispered: "I will bring death to your house". He was given a
conditional discharge and a restraining order banning him from
contacting former friend Michael Holden for a year. In court the
pair's involvement with the RSF was revealed, and both men were
described as "veteran Irish Republicans".
Source (LE) 25-01a.doc

25th April
AT least seven suspected IRA members have been detected in
FARC-controlled areas of Colombia in the last year, the head of the
Colombian armed forces told a US congressional hearing yesterday.
General Fernando Tapias told the committee that FARC's capabilities
had increased dramatically after the men arrived in Colombia and their
tactics had now switched to IRA-style urban terrorism. He added that
FARC now had mortars that could fire three miles and they had
introduced deadly IRA-type "secondary bombs". He told the Committee on
International Relations hearing that two of the seven had escaped
before the army could capture them. Another two, one man and one woman
were released because of lack of evidence. The seven also included the
three IRA men currently awaiting trial after they were captured last
August.

Under tight security, General Tapias claimed one of the Colombia
three, Neil Connolly, was a senior IRA figure who led at least four
other IRA members. General Tapias said his armed forces had built up a
detailed knowledge of the seven IRA members, and knew "their names,
their registration numbers and their activities". He said that four
IRA men had arrived from Paris, and included "James Edward Walker" who
entered on April 5, John Francis Johnston, who arrived two days later,
and Edward Campbell Joseph, later identified as James Monaghan, and
John Joseph Kelly - later identified as John Joseph McCauley. The
general told the committee that McCauley was second in command of the
IRA's "engineering department" and had managed elections for Sinn Fein
during 1996 elections in Upper Bann in Northern Ireland. He said the
boss of the group, "David Bracken", was later identified as Neil
Connolly, Sinn Fein's representative in Cuba. The general also said
that on in August 22, 2001, the army also captured "Kawin Noel
Creenie" and on September 4 captured "Margret Osk Steindordottir", but
these two were released because of lack of evidence.
Source (BT) 25-02a.doc 25-02b.doc

25th April
The only Protestant area on Londonderry's West Bank has come under
sectarian attack again. The tiny Fountain estate on the city side of
Londonderry has seen almost daily targeting from nationalist gangs
over the past 30 years. Two petrol bombs were thrown into the Fountain
Estate from the nationalist Nailor's Row and Bishop Street Without
areas at 5.45pm yesterday. A third petrol bomb was thrown at police. A
short time later a further three petrol bombs were thrown at police
from Rossville Street.
Source (BT) 25-03a.doc

26th April
Army bomb disposal experts have carried out two controlled explosions
on a suspect van at the Grosvenor Road roundabout near the centre of
Belfast. A loud bang was heard as the police operation to intercept
the van caused traffic disruption in the busy Westlink area of Belfast
and on the M1 motorway. A number of people were seen abandoning the
vehicle shortly before midday and ran away from it. The Grosvenor Road
joins the IRA/SF controlled Falls district to Belfast City Centre. It
is believed republicans were planning to bomb the city. Saying he
believed republicans were behind the threat, Lord Mayor Jim Rodgers
praised the police for foiling what he said was an "attempt to bomb
Belfast city centre". He said: "It is quite clear peace has not
returned to our streets."

It has since emerged that two masked men, one armed with a shotgun,
hijacked a van on Grosvenor Road in west Belfast around 11.30am
yesterday and placed an incendiary device inside before ordering the
driver to drive to the city centre. But when the van reached a police
checkpoint at Grosvenor Road, the driver alerted police and the alarm
was raised. One of the gang did something to the device before
escaping the scene. British Army bomb disposal experts, who later made
the device safe, said it would have caused a huge fireball had it
exploded.

It would seem that in keeping with IRA traditions, this was another
attempted suicide bombing. Don't be mistaken though; IRA suicide
bombers are nothing like their Palestinian counterparts. IRA death
squad members aren't committed enough to follow through their suicide
bombings themselves, instead forcing civilians to do the work for
them. For more on this visit http://www.upmj.co.uk/humanbombs.htm
Source (BBC) 26-01a.doc (BT) 26-01b.doc (II) 26-01c.doc

26th April
Three members of a republican murder gang have been caught red-handed
by police. Kevin Barry Murphy (31), from Pomeroy, with an address at
Altowen Park, Coalisland, both in Co Tyrone, was arrested last
February after police in hiding apprehended three men in a field at
the rear of Loughview Gardens, Coalisland, and a fourth man in a car
nearby. He was subsequently remanded in custody on charges of
possessing an RPG 22 rocket launcher with intent to endanger life and
conspiring with David Mullen, Sean Dillon and Brendan O'Connor to
murder members of the security forces.

Yesterday Crown lawyer David Hopley said one of the trio carrying the
rocket launcher dropped it when police emerged. All three were wearing
surgical gloves and Murphy had a mobile phone and a walkie-talkie.
"It is believed the rocket launcher was to be used in an attack on a
police or army vehicle or building," said Mr Hopley. "This was to be
an attack by a terrorist organisation and clearly these individuals
were not out to carry out a burglary with a rocket launcher."
Source (BT) 26-02a.doc

27th April
A Sinn Fein general election candidate in Dublin Central, Cllr Nicky
Kehoe, has been suspended for eight weeks by the pro-IRA Gaelic
Athletic Association for "abusive behaviour" it has emerged. His
suspension by the Dublin GAA County Board followed an investigation
into an incident during an under-13s football match last November
between Cllr Kehoe's Cabra-based Naomh Fionnbarra club and Parnells.
Shortly after the match began, Cllr Kehoe, who manages the team,
abused one of the Parnell team's mentors, according to a letter to the
GAA from Parnells. The Parnells' mentor was lying on the ground by the
time the referee, who had been following the play, arrived at the
scene. The referee later filed a report on the match to the Dublin
County Board.

In its letter, Parnells told the county board that Cllr Kehoe's action
had brought the GAA "into disrepute" and had added to the difficulties
faced by all clubs in attracting adult supervisors. The Cabra-based
councillor, like so many other members of the anti-Protestant GAA has
been an active terrorist, having served jail sentences for involvement
in the foiled kidnapping of businessman Mr Galen Weston and for
explosives possession.
Source (IT) 27-01a.doc

28th April
The IRA has been teaching Palestinian terrorists to build booby-trap
bombs for use against Israeli soldiers, according to a British
explosives expert working in the Jenin refugee camp. Paul Collinson, a
former Royal Engineers bomb disposal officer working for the Red
Cross, said that the devices he had found were identical in every
detail to those he had encountered in Northern Ireland. He told The
Telegraph that he had discovered more than 200 explosive devices while
working in the camp in the West Bank after the recent Israeli
invasion. He said that he was convinced that the bombs were either
supplied by the IRA or made under their supervision. He said: "When I
saw the bombs it was like a flashback to Northern Ireland. The pipe
bombs I found in Jenin are exact replicas of those in Northern
Ireland. The size of bomb, the way they put the nail in, the way of
igniting it with a light-bulb filament, where they drilled the holes
through, the use of a command wire and the means of initiating the
bomb; these are all the same. They have all the hallmarks of
originating from Ireland. When you put two and two together then it
seems that they could well have been trained by the IRA."

Thirteen Israeli soldiers were killed in the street battle for Jenin,
which was thought to be a centre of activity for Palestinian suicide
bombers. Mr Collinson said that the booby-trap bombs used in Jenin and
Northern Ireland were made from the same ingredients - nitrogen-based
fertiliser, diesel and sugar. He also suggested that the tactics used
by Palestinian militants in the battle for Jenin mirrored those of IRA
attacks on British soldiers. He said: "The bombs were placed in
alleyways and in houses. The Palestinians attempted to lure the
soldiers into these alleyways which were booby-trapped, and then
explode the devices with a command wire. I have seen similar tactics
used by the IRA in Armagh, Londonderry and Belfast." Despite working
as an explosives expert in the Palestinian territories over the past
two years - as well as Egypt, Colombia, Afghanistan and other
countries since leaving Northern Ireland - Mr Collinson has not seen
seen replicas of the IRA bombs anywhere other than recently in Jenin.

The revelation will fuel international concerns about the role being
played by the IRA during its ceasefire. Israel has already raised
concerns about links between the Republicans and Palestinian groups.
It is known that the IRA had contacts with the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine in the 1970s. In the 1980s, IRA members
travelled to Libya to meet Palestinian representatives. As we
disclosed last month, the Israeli intelligence service Mossad asked
British security agencies to check on the movements of known IRA
killers to help identify a sniper who shot dead seven soldiers and
three civilians in 25 minutes - using 25 bullets from a bolt-action
rifle.
Source (NT) 28-01a.doc (IT) 28-01b.doc

28th April
Sinn Fein/IRA's director of elections for Galway West, James Pius
Clarke of Knocknacarra in Galway city, has been jailed for six months
for assaulting a member of the Irish police force, the Gardai
Siochana.
Source (SBP) 28-02a.doc

28th April
Two years later, the government's lead prosecutor in the notorious
Irish gun-smuggling case says he never had any doubts the men on trial
were soldiers of the Irish Republican Army dispatched by top brass to
ship weapons from South Florida to Belfast. Assistant U.S. Attorney
Richard Scruggs went to trial in spring 2000 claiming that the
defendants were on an official mission spawned at the highest levels
of the IRA. A jury convicted three men of smuggling at least 123
weapons but cleared them of more serious terrorism charges. Two of
them, Anthony Smyth and Martin Mullan, were released from prison last
month. Admitted leader Conor Claxton remains behind bars.
Another accomplice, Siobhan Browne, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge
and served a brief sentence.

Scruggs' words before, during and after the trial raised eyebrows
among skeptical South Floridians. In Great Britain, where the delicate
Good Friday peace accord hangs in the balance, they sparked
pandemonium.
The IRA publicly denied it had ordered the operation. The Clinton
administration issued a statement contradicting some of Scruggs'
remarks. The diplomatic waters got so hot at one point that Attorney
General Janet Reno telephoned Scruggs in September 2000 to reassure
him. Scruggs, who left the U.S. Attorney's office soon after the trial
and now works in the private sector, discussed the case with new
candor in a recent phone interview.

Federal investigators believe the 1999 gunrunning episode was either
an operation approved by IRA's governing Army Council or a clandestine
affair carried out by IRA higher-ups in case the peace accord should
fail.
''There are two theories. I can't tell you which one is true,''
Scruggs said. ``One is a sanctioned operation. The other is that it
was allowed to occur to appease some of the hard-core members.''
Scruggs won't name names. But other government sources told The Herald
the man who oversaw the Florida operation was Sean ''Spike'' Murray, a
member of the General Headquarters Staff that oversees the day-to-day
operations of the IRA. The people who retrieved some of the smuggled
weapons in Britain were tied directly to the quartermaster of the IRA,
who sits on the Army Council, sources said.

Scruggs contends that two IRA volunteers came to Florida to procure
the guns: Claxton, now 29, and Mullan, now 32. He believes IRA brass
put them in touch with a third man, Smyth, now 45. Smyth was a Weston
used-car salesman who had come to the United States from Northern
Ireland two decades earlier after a young adulthood spent with the
IRA's Belfast Brigade. ''Claxton came into the United States for the
preparation of the plan,'' Scruggs said. ``Claxton was told to contact
Smyth. . . . Then you have Mullan, who came over totally separate.''
Of the three, only Claxton acknowledged an IRA identity at trial. He
said he had come to Florida alone and had recruited the others without
telling them of his broader mission. Today, Claxton, Mullan and Smyth
are all listed on numerous Irish republican Internet sites as ''Irish
POWs'' -- the only such prisoners in the United States. That is a
tacit acknowledgment, experts say, that the three are considered IRA
soldiers.

Federal agents believe the South Florida incident was part of a larger
operation involving dozens of agents in multiple cities. That
investigation continues. Browne, who pleaded guilty in the gunrunning
scheme, said in a recent interview that an IRA official told her in
1999 the operation encompassed 50 volunteers, four years of work, and
millions of dollars. Federal investigators have indicated her account
sounds credible.
As for the tempest over Scruggs and his statements about the IRA? The
former prosecutor believes the dispute was mostly hairsplitting.
Scruggs' comments suggested the Irish gun operation went as high Gerry
Adams, president of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the IRA
responsible for brokering the Good Friday peace accord. It was this
implication that so disturbed the British government that it prompted
a retraction from the Clinton administration.
Source (MH) 28-03a.doc 28-03b.doc

29th April
Republicans are being blamed for a bomb attack on a Northern Ireland's
prison. Prison staff were moved to safety following an explosion at
the main gate of Maghaberry Prison in County Antrim. A device was left
in the white vehicle which pulled up outside the perimeter gate to the
prison in County Antrim about 2230 BST on Sunday. Two prison officers
were in buildings nearby, but no-one was hurt. Meanwhile there is a
security alert on the railway line after a suspicious device was left
between Moira and Lurgan.
Source (BBC) 29-01a.doc

29th April
The Northern Ireland peace process was under fresh pressure yesterday
as unionists demanded explanations over claims that a top IRA man
close to Gerry Adams and credited with a key role in the peace process
was involved with Marxist Colombian guerrillas.  Republicans were in
the eye of the storm last week as a US congressional committee in
Washington heard allegations that three Irishmen arrested in the South
American country last August taught Farc rebels bomb-making
techniques. But security and political sources also contend that
Padraig Wilson, 44, a convicted bomber and the Provisionals' former
commander in the Maze prison, was one of up to 12 others who visited
narco-terrorists in Colombia over the past five years. The accusation
is particularly damaging to the Sinn Fein leadership as Wilson, jailed
for 24 years after being caught making a booby trap device in 1991 but
freed under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday agreement, is a trusted
confidant of Mr Adams.
Source (Gu) 29-02a.doc

30th April
North Belfast politicians today criticised the appearance of
Republican graffiti praising Palestinian suicide bombers and
threatening residents of the Protestant White City estate. North
Belfast MP Nigel Dodds said he had received many complaints from
locals in the Shore Road and Whitewell areas about slogans daubed on
nearby walls. "This graffiti is reprehensible and despicable," he
said. "Such racist and sectarian messages can raise tensions and stoke
up fears in the area. It shows that there is an agenda being played
out which aims to drive out Protestant residents from the White City
estate." Mr Dodds said he had notified the authorities to request the
removal of the slogans. He called on local nationalist representatives
to ensure the graffiti does not appear again.

Independent unionist councillor Fraser Agnew said aggrieved White City
residents had also contacted him.
Mr Agnew said the slogans in support of the Palestinians were tied in
with the recent proliferation of Palestinian flags in nationalist
areas of the city.
Source (BT) 30-01a.doc

Source Abbreviations

AN - Ananova
AP - Associated Press

BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation
BNL - Belfast News Letter (www.newsletter.co.uk)
BT - Belfast Telegraph

CW - Community Worker(s)
EW - Eye-Witness

FT - Financial Times

Gu - The Guardian
HZ - Ha'aretz (Middle-East newspaper)
Iec - Irish Echo

IEx - Irish Examiner
II - Irish Independent

IT - Irish Times
LE - Liverpool Echo
MH - Miami Herald
NT - news.telegraph.co.uk
TS - The Scotsman
Ob - Observer (www.observer.co.uk)
SBP - Sunday Business Post
SH - Sunday Herald

SI - Sunday Independent
SL - Sunday Life
SM - Shankill Mirror

SoS - Scotland on Sunday

STr -Sunday Tribune
UH - Ulster Herald
UTV - Ulster Television

Republican Watch - March 2002

Original post   (by Irish Republican Watch, added Monday, 29 April 2002 12:43:33 UTC+1)

Republican Watch

March 2002

The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and
attacks is from 1 through 31 March 2002. The criteria we use for
inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an
attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it
should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our
information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find
incidents that have been left off, or if you would like to provide
information for future instalments please contact us.

1st March
A 21-year-old man has been shot through both hands and both legs by
republican terrorists at Butler Place in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.
Source (UTV) 01-01a.doc

1st March
A man has been arrested after a gang of four masked republicans
kidnapped and tortured a youth in Co. Kerry. SF/IRA are being linked
to the brutal attack. It has since come to light that the arrested man
is Sinn Fein/IRA's Director of Elections for Kerry North, James
Sheehan.
Source (UTV) 01-02a.doc 01-02b.doc (IT) 01-02c.doc

2nd March
2 teenage boys suffered injuries when an IRA bomb exploded in their
faces at a horseracing event in County Armagh. The bomb had been
placed in a traffic cone. The boys, aged 15 and 16 years respectively,
lifted the cone out of the way of a car, detonating the terrorist
device. Thankfully their injuries are not believed to be life
threatening.
Source (IT) 02-01a.doc (BBC) 02-01b.doc 02-01c.doc

2nd March
Police in the Republic of Ireland have arrested a further 3
republicans in Co. Kerry. The three men were detained in the town of
Castleisland and followed the earlier arrest of local Sinn Fein
official James Sheehan. All four men are believed to have close links
with SF/IRA terrorist and Irish General Election candidate Martin
Ferris.
Source (UTV) 02-02a.doc

8th March
The safety of Protestant school children is being put at serious risk
due to lack of policing in North Belfast, it was claimed today. Local
North Belfast councillor Elaine McMillan was speaking after a meeting
with the NI Security Minister, held to discuss the on-going sectarian
attacks from republicans against children travelling to and from the
predominantly Protestant Boys' and Girls' Model Schools.
Source (BT) 08-01a.doc

9th March
"Police in Florida are investigating a suspected gun-running operation
to Ireland, it was learned last night.
The case in Florida involves striking similarities to a major
Provisional IRA arms smuggling operation in 1999 in which weapons were
secretly posted back to Ireland from Fort Lauderdale. But the latest
gun-runner to be caught, Bernard Maserati Joseph Meli (59), who grew
up in Belfast and moved away several years ago, had previously had no
known links to any Irish terrorist group."
Source (II) 09-01a.doc (IT) 09-01b.doc

9th March
Irish Republicans have thrown a bomb into Rosemount police station in
Londonderry. There are no reports of any injuries.
Source (IT) 09-02a.doc

9th March
European and American security officials are investigating reports
that a PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) sniper who murdered
10 Israelis on the West Bank a week ago might be a SF/IRA gunman.
"Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, has asked European and
American security agencies if they can help to identify the killer,
who shot dead seven soldiers and three civilians in 25 minutes using
25 bullets from a bolt-action rifle."
Source (NT) 09-03a.doc (HZ) 09-03b.doc

10th March
A 17-year-old boy has been shot in both ankles in a suspected IRA/SF
attack near his home in west Belfast.
Source (IT) 10-01a.doc

11th March
Martin Ferris, Sinn Fein/IRA election candidate for Kerry North in the
Irish Republic and convicted IRA terrorist has been arrested in
connection with vigilante activity. The development comes after eight
other Sinn Fein figures, including Mr Ferris' campaign director, James
Sheehan, were arrested at the beginning of the month in connection
with the December 2001 attack, in which a man was abducted and beaten
up in Castleisland, County Kerry.
Source (AN) 11-01a.doc (IT) 11-01b.doc

11th March
"A busload of (Protestant) schoolchildren were lucky to escape serious
injury today after the window of their vehicle was struck by a brick
while passing through a sectarian flashpoint in north Belfast. The
bus, carrying pupils from Glengormley High School, was attacked in the
Longlands estate at around 8am. Translink said one pupil sustained
minor cuts to her head and others were" very shaken" by the attack.
Colin Trimble, whose daughter Stacey (12), was a passenger on the bus,
said children are easy targets as they travel daily through the area.
The angry father said the incident was the fourth such incident his
daughter had suffered and his nephew was hospitalised months ago with
glass in his eye following a bus attack."
Source (BT) 11-02a.doc

13th March
"A Garda ballistics expert yesterday linked metal parts found at the
home and workshop of a Co Wexford man to homemade grenade and rocket
launchers uncovered in arms finds at two areas in the county in 1999.
The improvised weapons were allegedly found by gardai at Shelmalier
Commons and Killellan, Castle Bridge, Co Wexford. Some items found
were ordinary plumbing fittings that had been worked on to produce
component parts for weapons, the Special Criminal Court was told.

Thomas Redmond (62), with addresses at The Grove, Clonard and The Gate
Post, Forth Commons, both Co Wexford, pleaded not guilty to membership
of an illegal organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army,
otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on October 1 1999."
Source (II) 13-01a.doc

16th March
A Sinn Fein/IRA inspired mob has attempted to reach Protestant homes
in north Belfast. Police officers were pelted with missiles as they
stopped the gang on the Limestone Road. However no arrests were made.
Source (BBC) 16-01a.doc (CW) (EW)

16th March
A man in his 20's is recovering after being abducted by republicans
and held for 2 hours. It is understood he is being treated for
suspected gunshot wounds to his legs and brusing to his face and neck.
At one stage he had a gun placed in his mouth. After the assault he
was dumped on the Glenvale Road.
Source (BT) 16-02a.doc

17th March
"One of America's biggest St Patrick's Day parades is going ahead
despite a bitter split over the presence of a convicted IRA bomber.
Brian Pearson was chosen to be grand marshal of the giant parade in
Pearl River, 25 miles from New York. Pearson, 50, was granted
political asylum in the United States in 1997 despite the objections
of the American government, after spending 12 years in prison for
blowing up two RUC police stations. But his presence has prompted an
unprecedented boycott of the parade by police and firefighters'
organisations who do not want to be associated with terrorism in the
wake of the September 11 attack. Dozens of residents of Rockland
County, where Pearl River is located, died in the collapse of the twin
towers and many of the Irish-American firefighters and police who were
to march in the parade lost colleagues and themselves narrowly escaped
death." Pearson, like so many IRA/SF terrorists, was chosen to head
the parade by the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a Roman Catholic
fraternal organisation with close links to the IRA and other
anti-Protestant murder gangs.
Source (AN) 17-01a.doc (NT) 17-01b.doc (UH) 17-01c.doc

17th March
An 18-year-old Kerry youth is in hospital suffering from a nervous
breakdown as a result of being terrorised by a group of Sinn Fein/IRA
thugs who hide behind the name Kerry Concerned Parents Against Drugs
(KCPAD). The group attacked his house while only his mother was home.
She was pushed about and told that her son was to leave the area. She
was told that she would end up in a coffin if he remained. This case
is currently being investigated by Tralee Gardai and is separate to
the vigilante attack which led to the arrest of Sinn Fein candidate
for North Kerry Martin Ferris, and many of his troops. However, it
could prove equally embarrassing to the local Sinn Fein organisation
as gardai say their investigation is nearing completion and that those
with a known association to Sinn Fein are likely to be arrested and
questioned about their alleged involvement in the incident. Tralee
gardai are confident that once files have been passed to the DPP,
charges will follow. They also say there is "more than just local
gossip" linking to Sinn Fein the thugs who hide behind KCPAD.
Source (SI) 17-02a.doc

17th March
A Protestant community leader has branded today's giant St Patrick's
carnival in Belfast as an "excessive indulgence of Irish
republicanism". And Glencairn man, Jimmy Creighton, who was also
critical of the organising committee, declared: "They have made it so
republican orientated, that it's impossible for any Protestant to take
part.
"They're entitled to do what they want, of course, but don't try to
make fools of the people, by suggesting that it's cross-community and
that Protestants are welcome. "It's totally exclusive and no
Protestant, that I know, wants to be seen in a sea of Tricolours and
republican emblems."
If any proof were needed to substantiate Mr. Creighton's claims then
one only need watch the St. Patrick's day parade in Belfast on this
day. The republican terrorist trappings included men in Provisional
IRA/SF military attire, complete with dark glasses and berets.
Source (SL) 17-03a.doc (BNL) 17-03b.doc (CW)

18th March
THE Real IRA has been linked to the drugs trade by a senior official
in America's State Department. Rand Beers, an Assistant Secretary for
International Narcotics affairs, also told the US Congress in
Washington that the three Irishmen arrested in Colombia last year were
"members of the IRA".
And the official gave further details of the links the US government
believes exist between Colombian narco-terrorists FARC and the
Provisionals (Sinn Fein/IRA).
Source (BT) 18-01a.doc

19th March
Further republican rioting has taken place in north Belfast. Several
homes had windows broken as Sinn Fein mobs took to the streets.
Source (UTV) 19-01a.doc (EW)

19th March
A row has erupted over an IRA/SF terror memorial in County Fermanagh.
The monument is situated near the spot at Slater's Crossroads where
two Protestant workmen, William Hazard and Frederick Love, were
butchered by an IRA/SF murder gang in 1988. Four gunmen armed with
rifles and a handgun fired up to 150 bullets at close range into the
men's van. SF/IRA MP for the area Michelle Gildernew has praised the
siting of the monument while most other politicians, and the victims
families are distraught by the insensitivity of it.
Source (BBC) 19-02a.doc (IT) 19-02b.doc

19th March
Approximately 70 Protestant children were locked in school for their
own safety after a republican mob attacked teachers, parents and
pupils at the Currie Primary School in north Belfast. The school is
located in an area which has seen an upsurge in anti-Protestant
rioting of late. Local councillor Nelson McCausland claimed the
trouble was sparked yesterday, when what he described as "republican
stormtroopers" verbally abused staff and children going to the school.

It is believed the recent upsurge in republican violence could be
related to the on-going US investigation of IRA/SF links with
Colombian narco-terrorists FARC. With media attention centred on the
trio of Sinn Fein/IRA terrorists charged with training FARC
guerrillas, Sinn Fein is keen to alleviate some of the pressure.
Source (UTV) 19-03a.doc (BBC) 19-03b.doc (EW)

20th March
The US House Committee on International Relations is to go ahead with
hearings on the links between the IRA and the Colombian FARC guerrilla
organisation and has issued invitations to four witnesses to give
evidence, including Sinn Féin/IRA President Mr Gerry Adams.
Source (IT) 20-01a.doc (II) 20-01b.doc

20th March
A republican bomb suspect has been remanded in custody at Armagh
Magistrates Court. Conor Casey, 30, of Greenvale Drive, Cookstown is
accused of conspiracy to murder and possession of explosives with
intent outside the city on November 21. The device, primed and ready
for use, was found by security forces packed into the boot of a white
Vauxhall Astra, stopped at Knappagh Road, near Killylea. A trigger
mechanism was also found on the front seat.
Source (BNL) 20-02a.doc

20th March
Schools from deprived Protestant areas of Belfast have been frozen out
in the latest round of cash allocations, it has been claimed. The
claims come as IRA/SF godfather and current Stormont Education
Minister Martin McGuinness prepares to announce a major package worth
more than £100 million to upgrade 22 dilapidated schools throughout
Northern Ireland. It is claimed that Mr. McGuinness will continue with
his anti-Protestant spending policy by granting most, if not all the
money to Roman Catholic maintained schools while ignoring those
schools catering for Protestant children.
Source (UTV) 20-03a.doc

22nd March
A distraught mother-of-four will today (Friday) leave her beloved
White City home, no longer able to tolerate the increasing levels of
sectarian attacks on her family. Since July last year, more than 40
petrol bombs have been hurled at Mary Foster's home at Gunnel Hill,
which sits at the entrance of the estate. Mrs Foster, who has lived in
the estate for 18 years, told of her heartbreak at having to leave a
home where she had been very happy.

The Fosters are the latest in a string of families to leave the area
in months. In recent days, a family on the Whitewell Road also left
the area following a petrol bombing.As husband Ian packed up the
remainder of their belongings into boxes, Mrs Foster said: "We applied
for a new house last November and we are only getting to move now. We
have no choice because we couldn't live under siege any more. All I
want is a normal life but, because I am a Protestant, I am targeted
with petrol bombs, coffee jar bombs, fireworks and bricks - and the
police won't cross the peaceline to stop it. The children are living
in fear of attack every night and we can't go on like this."

Mrs Foster claimed a recent illness she suffered was as a result of
stress from constant attacks on her home, the garden of which backs
onto the peaceline. She slammed any proposals to remove the high wire
fencing from White City estate and other areas of Belfast - suggested
in City of Culture proposals - as "impossible". "I would challenge
anyone who wants to remove the peace walls to come and live in my
house for a week," she said. "They would soon change their mind. I
went into hospital a couple of weeks ago unable to move my joints. The
doctors said my illness was a result of stress. You don't even get
peace to grieve here as I came back from a family bereavement recently
and had only just closed the door behind me when a crowd of
nationalists came into the driveway and then the windows came in
around us. My biggest fear has always been that a petrol bomb will be
thrown at the house at 4.30am when we are asleep and we are all burned
in our beds. Leaving the area has been a hard decision for the family,
especially for my husband who was born here. We are leaving some great
friends and neighbours behind."

Community representative for the area, Caroline Wood, claimed police,
Housing Executive and NIO officials were not doing enough to help
Protestant families living in the area. She said: "Basically, if all
the Protestants cleared out of the area, it would be a lot less hassle
for the police and other services. We are a small Protestant community
surrounded by nationalist estates. We do not even have a shop to go to
and most of our children have been intimidated away from local stores.
Slogans have gone up on walls in nationalist areas such as 'White City
will burn' and 'Houses soon available in White City'. They want our
homes and are trying as hard as they can to intimidate us out. Not
enough is being done to prevent us from further sectarian attack."
Source (BNL) 22-01a.doc (BBC) 22-01b.doc (SM) (EW) (CW)

23rd March
A Protestant woman and four police officers have been injured after a
Sinn Fein gang went on the rampage in north Belfast. The woman, in her
30's suffered eye and facial injuries after republicans threw a blast
bomb at her. Eye-witnesses claim the device was thrown over an
interface by nationalists.
Earlier five police officers were injured after a nationalist gang
attacked homes in the Protestant White City area, smashing windows in
at least eight houses and attacking cars. During follow-up searches in
the area, a number of items were recovered. They included bottles,
clubs and planks of wood spiked with nails.
Source (UTV) 23-01a.doc (Ob) 23-01b.doc (EW)

23rd March
At approximately 9:30pm republican terrorists launched a gun attack in
Belleek, Co Fermanagh. A follow-up operation by police found bullet
marks on both the police station and a nearby house. Chief inspector
John Barr said the people living in the house only arrived back on
Sunday morning. "During the morning, when we did carry out a search
around the station, we found that a number of strike marks had hit a
private house next to the police station.
"There were approximately four to five strike marks on the gable wall,
the panes of glass had been broken and one in the conservatory."
Source (BBC) 23-02a.doc

24th March
A prominent Sinn Fein member and convicted IRA/SF terrorist was one of
three men questioned by gardaí in Listowel, Co Kerry, last night, in
connection with the armed hold-up of a Securicor truck last month.
During the arrests of the two men on Saturday, garda uniforms and a
blue light beacon were seized. It has been confirmed by the Garda
Siochana that the man has close links to SF/IRA election candidate,
and convicted terrorist Martin Ferris.
Source (ST) 24-01a.doc (IEx) 24-01b.doc

25th March
Army bomb disposal experts are examining a suspect device found at an
army training camp in County Londonderry. Last month a Security Guard
was injured when a republican bomb was thrown into the base.
Source (BBC) 25-01a.doc

25th March
"Protestant schoolchildren and their parents came under attack from
paint bombs and bricks on Monday when trouble flared outside their
school. Parents and pupils from Currie Primary School on the Limestone
Road, north Belfast, were attacked with bottles, bricks and paint
bombs. Parents said the children are regular targets for sectarian
abuse from residents from the Newington and Parkside areas.

Nicola Wallace, who has children in Primary 3 and 7 (Aged 7 and 11),
said she fears for her children's safety. "It's getting out of hand.
Every day there is an incident and the children are frightened. Pupils
who were supposed to go swimming couldn't as they couldn't leave the
building. "At lunch time, there was a group of youths with their faces
covered standing with baseball bats. Also, there is often a group of
men who stand outside the shops and shout sectarian abuse as we take
the children to and from school."

Community worker Eddie McClean said the problems at Currie Primary
School started "long before" the well-publicised incidents at Holy
Cross primary school in nearby Ardoyne. "These children are
traumatised. They are being attacked on a regular basis," he said. The
DUP's Ian Crozier and Nigel Dodds blamed republican factions for the
attacks. Mr Dodds said: "It is clear from the events that republicans
are not interested in ending the cycle of violence in north Belfast.
In fact, they are attempting to plunge the area back into the position
it was in a few months ago, by igniting a Holy Cross-style dispute
around Currie Primary School. On a daily basis, children and parents
at Currie primary are faced with a gauntlet of violence and
intimidation from republicans, who on numerous occasions have actually
attacked people going to and from the school."

Mr Crozier, who also serves as a governor at the school, said police
would have to take a tougher line.
On Monday night, Mr Dodds and the headmistress of Currie Primary
School called for immediate extra security in the area."
Source (BNL) 25-02a.doc (BBC) 25-02b.doc (EW) (CW)

26th March
Sinn Fein/IRA godfather Martin McGuinness has rejected requests by
relatives of the 29 people and unborn twins killed in the Omagh bomb
to urge Republicans with information about the attack to go to the
Irish police. The Real IRA, a splinter group made up of disaffected
members of Martin McGuinness's terror gang claimed responsibility for
the massacre in August 1998.
Source (NT) 26-01a.doc

29th March
A 40-year-old Protestant civilian was the target of an IRA booby-trap
car bomb yesterday in Co. Tyrone. The 2lb semtex-bomb with a mercury
tilt-switch has been used on numerous occasions by IRA/SF terrorists
to murder vulnerable Protestants. On this occasion the target had
driven 40 miles (65km) while the device, attached to his car failed to
detonate. The alert was raised yesterday morning when a neighbour, who
was driving in the opposite direction, saw the device hanging from
under the front of the intended victim's car as they passed each other
in the village of Newtownstewart, midway between Sion Mills and Omagh.
The neighbour immediately alerted the police and when officers arrived
at the man's Meadow Park home in Sion Mills, they found the bomb.

PSNI Insp Andy Lemon said if the bomb had exploded, there could have
been widespread casualties. "This was a massive booby trap bomb and to
attempt to murder this man on Good Friday is simply horrendous. Any
one of three members of this man's family could have driven this car,
the bomb could have exploded anywhere, maiming or killing anyone. When
we got the call from the man's neighbour, we immediately rushed to the
man's home and found the device under his car. An army technical
officer carried out a controlled explosion to make the bomb safe. We
had to evacuate 150 people from their homes to safety during the
operation to make the device safe. Looking around me now at how many
children are playing on the streets on a bright sunny day, it makes
you realise how lucky not only this man was, but also other innocent
members of the public."
Source (BBC) 29-01a.doc (IT) 29-01b.doc

30th March
Several well-known members of IRA/SF are among 6 people arrested by
detectives investigating the security breach at Castlereagh Police
Station earlier in the month. They include the IRA's so-called
Intelligence Officer, Bobby Storey, the man responsible for the
interrogation and execution of police informers. The four men and two
women were arrested in swoops on republican areas of Belfast and
Londonderry. During the security breach at Castlereagh on St. Patricks
day, a gang of men assaulted an officer on duty before stealing
documents relating to Police agents, including names of agents and
their Police handlers.
Source (BBC) 30-01a.doc (BT) 30-01b.doc (Gu) 30-01c.doc

30th March
A number of Protestant-owned houses have been damaged after
nationalist gangs went on the rampage in the Duncairn Gardens and
North Queen Street areas of Belfast. Police, intervening to keep the
nationalists back, came under attack. There are numerous reports of
injuries and of vehicles being hi-jacked and burnt out. A police
spokesman said several officers and soldiers were injured and more
than 40 petrol bombs were thrown at security force vehicles - several
of which sustained damage.
Source (UTV) 30-02a.doc (EW) (CW)

30th March
A pregnant Protestant teenager spoke last night of her trauma at
seeing her Roman Catholic fiancée blasted in the legs by a republican
gang. The republican thugs had recently sprayed graffiti in north
Belfast accusing the man of being a "tout" (informer) simply because
he defied their bigotry to visit his Protestant fiancée's home.
Source (SL) 30-03a.doc

31st March
The main political parties in the Republic of Ireland have agreed a
strategy to combat Sinn Fein/IRA vote stealing in the up-coming Irish
General Election. Sinn Fein is widely accused of personation. The
leader of the Fine Gael party, Mr Noonan said: "As you are aware,
there were reports of widespread personation during the parliamentary
elections in Northern Ireland last year. I am concerned that Sinn Fein
may be planning similar activity during the forthcoming election
here."

A former Sinn Fein election worker, Willie Carlin, has claimed that
Martin McGuinness got into politics, thanks to systematic
vote-stealing by republicans. Mr Carlin, a key Sinn Fein worker from
1982 to 1985, says a decisive 2,700 votes were cast fraudulently for
the present Northern Ireland education minister by party supporters in
the 1982 Stormont assembly elections.Later, a party was organised for
the election workers and Mr Carlin alleges that a plaque was presented
to the person who had voted the most times. The winner, a woman, had
cast 67 ballots, just two ahead of the runner-up, he said.
Source (SI) 31-01a.doc

AN - Ananova
BBC - British Broadcasting Corporation
BNL - Belfast News Letter (www.newsletter.co.uk)
BT - Belfast Telegraph
CW - Community Worker(s)
EW - Eye-Witness
Gu - The Guardian
HZ - Ha'aretz (Middle-East newspaper)
Iec - Irish Echo
IEx - Irish Examiner
II - Irish Independent
IT - Irish Times
NT - news.telegraph.co.uk
Ob - Observer (www.observer.co.uk)
SI - Sunday Independent
SL - Sunday Life
SM - Shankill Mirror
STr -Sunday Tribune
UH - Ulster Herald
UTV - Ulster Television

Republican Watch - February 2002

Original post   (by Irish Republican Watch, added Friday, 26 April 2002 10:20:06 UTC+1)

Republican Watch

February 2002

The following list of sectarian and other hate-driven incidents and
attacks is from 1 through 28 February 2002. The criteria we use for
inclusion is based on the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
criteria; if a person/organisation feels that the motivation for an
attack against them was sectarian (or racist or homophobic), then it
should be counted as such. We rely on a number of sources for our
information, but this is by no means comprehensive. If you find
incidents that have been left off, or if you would like to provide
information for future installments please contact us.

1st February

The planned closure of Templemore Secondary School in Londonderry next
year is at least partly due to the Protestant exodus from the west
bank of the River Foyle, it was claimed today. Former pupils of the
school said that relentless sectarian attacks in the past had led to
the small number of Protestants still remaining today on the
(nationalist) west bank to send their children to schools in the
(Unionist) Waterside.
Source (BNL) 01-01a.doc

The father of a Protestant teenager who died after being knocked from
his bicycle in a sectarian incident at a north Belfast flashpoint
today told how his life has been "ripped apart" by the tragedy.
Nationalists killed Thomas McDonald, 16, of White City, as he cycled
on the Whitewell Road last September. A car chased him, and as he
cycled to escape it mounted the footpath knocking him down and ending
his young life. A woman has been charged with his murder.
Source (BNL) 01-02a.doc

3rd February

A leading IRA/SF member has been refused entry to the United States of
America. IRA/SF assemblyman, Conor Murphy, is an outspoken supporter
of the 3 republicans arrested and charged in Colombia. Mr Murphy is on
record declaring the reports that one of the men was IRA/SF’s
representative in Cuba as "rubbish". Sinn Fein/IRA later confirmed
that Niall Connolly had indeed been its representative in Cuba.
Source (STr) 03-01a.doc
4th February

It became clear today the extent to which self-confessed terrorist
godfather, and current Minister for Education in Northern Ireland,
Martin “Bogside butcher” McGuinness has been shunned by state schools.
In his tenure as Minister of Education McGuinness has received only 10
invitations from state schools compared to 109 invitations from Roman
Catholic controlled schools. Mr.McGuinness has been accused of biased
funding allocations and upon his appointment as Minister of Education
there were pupil walkouts all over Northern Ireland.
Source (BT) 04-01a.doc
5th February

Security Minister Jane Kennedy today unveiled plans for several
security fences and extensions of existing fences in flashpoint areas.
Protestant community workers and Unionist politicians in these areas
had been urging the minister for some time to implement such security.
Fred Cobain, UUP MLA for north Belfast, said he was in favour of
whatever security measures were needed to reassure his community. "If
that’s what it takes to make them feel safe I’m happy enough," he
said. "The core issue for Protestants and unionists is that these
people have never felt safe."
Source (BNL) 05-01a.doc
6th February

Sinn Fein/IRA ministers in the local Northern Ireland Assembly have
been accused of wasting valuable taxpayers money in Irish language
translations. Responding to an assembly question, the IRA/Sinn Fein
Health Minister said that £16,896 had been spent in 1999-20, a further
£53,115 in the last financial year and £111,626 in the first eight
months of this financial year. Her claim that this expenditure was
justifiable because people had a “right to be communicated with in a
language they can understand” was contradicted by her IRA/SF colleague
and self confessed terrorist godfather Martin McGuinness. McGuinness,
the Education Minister, had already told assembly members that there
was no significant difference in English literacy levels between Irish
medium schools and other schools. Meanwhile, hospitals and patients
continue to suffer.
Source (BNL) 06-01a.doc 06-01b.doc
7th February

A survivor of a sectarian terrorist atrocity in south Armagh 19 years
ago claims he was beaten up in an unprovoked sectarian attack on an
Armagh Town Service bus. Translink says it will instigate an internal
investigation, and will cooperate fully with police. Aaron McKendry
(30) was an 11 year-old schoolboy when republican gunmen burst into
the Mountain Lodge Pentecostal Church at Darkley, outside Keady,
during a service in November 1983. Three church elders died as the
congregation was raked with gunfire.
Source (BT) 07-01a.doc

A 33-year-old man has been arrested under the Terrorism Act in
Northern Ireland in connection with police inquiries into the bombs in
Birmingham, Ealing and outside the BBC last year. These attacks were
carried out by the Real IRA, a name of convenience for disenchanted
members of IRA/Sinn Fein. The Real IRA is responsible for the Omagh
Bombing in 1998, which killed 29 civilians and unborn twins. Gerry
Adams, leader of Sinn Fein/IRA has told his supporters in no uncertain
terms that they are not to assist the authorities in the investigation
of this atrocity.
Source (BBC) 07-02a.doc

The police have revealed that a 32-year-old man was abducted and held
overnight in a republican area of west Belfast at the weekend. A hood
was placed over his head and he was taken to an unknown location where
he was stripped, threatened and questioned.
Source (BBC) 07-03a.doc

8th February

A 53-year-old republican facing firearms charges was alleged in the
High Court to be a senior figure in the Real IRA, a cover name for
IRA/Sinn Fein. Patrick Joseph Reid, from New Barnsley Crescent in west
Belfast, was arrested last month after firearms and ammunition were
found in purpose-built hides in the back garden of his home.
Source (UTV) 08-01a.doc

A civilian worker with the Ministry of Defence has been seriously
injured in an explosion near Magilligan Prison in County Londonderry.
Republicans were behind the incident which has left the man in a
critical condition in
hospital. Condemning the attack, Police Superintendent Mervyn Hood
said: "This was certainly a republican terrorist-type attack. It was
despicable and savage attack. The device was obviously designed to
kill." Politicians from all sides, with the exception of Sinn
Fein/IRA, condemned this barbaric incident.
Source (BBC) 08-02a.doc 08-02c.doc (IT) 08-02b.doc

A Protestant Security guard narrowly escaped being burnt alive in a
sectarian attack on a Belfast pub. The man was working as a lone
security guard at the Royal bar at the junction of Sandy Row and
Donegall Road when arsonists tried to burn the premises down. At
around 3.30am on Wednesday, the men pulled grilles off windows, poured
petrol through the pub window and tried to ignite it with petrol
bombs. Republicans had recently burnt down the nearby Glasgow Rangers
Supporters Club and the owner of the Royal Bar had received telephoned
threats during the recent Rangers v Celtic football match, telling him
his bar was next. Luckily this time the murder attempt failed.
Source (BT) 08-03a.doc

9th February

Republic of Ireland Tanaiste Mary Harney attacked Gerry Adams’ party
at the Progressive Democrat’s annual conference in Limerick yesterday.
Harney said that the killing of a member of the Gardai (ROI Police
Force) did not qualify as political activity and balaclava politics
would destroy the economy.
Source (II) 09-01a.doc
10th February

A nationalist mob went on the rampage in North Belfast last night.
Around 80 republicans threw petrol bombs and attempted to reach
Protestant homes.
Source (UTV) 10-01a.doc

Irish newspaper the Sunday Independent has carried two articles,
written by prominent Republic of Ireland politicians attacking Sinn
Fein/IRA and the pro-republican bias of national Broadcaster, RTE. In
one piece Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes accused RTE of adopting a softly,
softly approach to the IRA/SF terror machine. In the other Willie
O'Dea (Minister of State at the Dept of
Education and Science) states, “Until Sinn Féin can demonstrate
understanding and acceptance of democratic principles, they should be
rejected”.
Source (SI) 10-02a.doc 10-02b.doc

11th February

Former Republic of Ireland Tanaiste Dick Spring has accused Sinn Fein
of being associated with the drugs trade in Northern Ireland and said
their support for vigilantism in the Republic of Ireland was
hypocritical.
Source (IEx)11-01a
13th February

A 46-year-old republican has been jailed for 18 years after police
recovered a terrorist arms cache in his home in Londonderry. It is
believed the find has saved the lives of many vulnerable Protestants
in the city.
Source (BT) 13-01a
14th February

Talks are to take place between Translink, politicians, police and
parents after a bus taking Protestant children home from school came
under a hail of missiles as it passed a nationalist estate in Armagh.
Source (BNL) 14-01a

A written House of Commons answer reveals a total of 42 (so-called
dissident) republicans have been arrested in the UK and ROI during the
past year.
Source (BT) 14-02a

A 30-year-old bar-worker forced to leave Northern Ireland by IRA death
threats today took his traumatic story to Westminster. Thousands of
people are currently exiled from Northern Ireland due to republican
murder gang death threats. Tony Blair is eager to offer an amnesty to
all IRA/SF terrorists wanted by police in connection with some of
Northern Irelands most brutal sectarian killings, but as yet has done
nothing to help those who cannot return to Northern Ireland for fear
of IRA/SF death squads.
Source (UTV) 14-03a

15th February

Three police officers have been injured after being attacked by a
republican mob in north Belfast. A police Land Rover was overturned.
The following is an eyewitness account by a Community worker for the
area: “In the early hours of Saturday morning, Republican thugs on
their way to White City to launch a pipe bomb at one of the houses,
were prevented from doing so by the actions of the driver of a police
land-rover, which became the target of the bombers. A riot then ensued
between the police, army and the crowd of Nationalists on the
Whitewell Road, where a lorry was set ablaze, and petrol was poured
over the road and then ignited. While this was happening close to the
junction of Gunnell Hill and Whitewell Rd, A separate attack was
launched against an elderly (Protestant) woman's house near the Arthur
Bridge at the edge of the estate, when another group of Republicans
tried to force open the front door with a sledgehammer. The same house
was attacked again tonight, and when the police promptly arrived, a
nationalist mob attempted to enter the Gunnell Hill area to wreak
havoc there, but fortunately were pushed back when more police and
army units arrived. This was only three hours ago, and the mob is
still on the Whitewell now, being monitored by the security forces.
These attacks have clearly been orchestrated by Republican
paramilitaries, and still no arrests have been made, nor has any
attempt been made to stop the numerous cars ferrying more thugs into
the streets of Lower Whitewell.”
Source (BBC) 15-01a (CW) www.crua.co.uk
16th February

Sinn Fein/IRA have yet again attacked US Foreign Policy. Appearing in
Sinn Fein/IRA’s propaganda newspaper is a lengthy article, which
starts off… “We already know that George W Bush is out of his mind…”
This follows a previous editorial; written directly after the
September 11th atrocity, in which Sinn Fein/IRA attempted to justify
Osama bin Laden’s terrorist attacks on the
United States people.
Source (II) 16-01a
17th February

The Observer newspaper reports that it has been sent a Provisional
Sinn Fein/IRA propaganda video. Seemingly this video was not intended
for public viewing as it shows high-profile SF/IRA Assemblyman Martin
Meehan referring to Protestant civilians as “Orange bastards.”
Alliance leader David Ford said the remarks "clearly demonstrated" Mr
Meehan's party had a long way to
go before it could claim to be a nonsectarian party. Mr. Meehan has
refused to retract the comment. Also shown on the propaganda video is
Gerry Adams, flanked by men in “terrorist uniform” at a republican
parade.
Source (Ob) 17-01a
18th February

Police discover a hi-tech rocket launcher at a house in Sinn Fein/IRA
controlled Coalisland, Co Tyrone. A crowd of Nationalists attacked
Police as four (4) known republicans were arrested in connection with
the find.
Source (BT) 18-01a (BNL) 18-01b (BBC) 18-01c (UTV) 18-01d.doc

The Republic of Ireland Government is planning to tighten up electoral
rules in order to crack down on personation at the general election.
This has come about due to the many allegations of intimidation,
violence and multiple voting by IRA/SF henchmen in Northern Ireland
elections
Source (II) 18-02a

19th February

One of the four republicans arrested in connection with the arms find
in Coalisland, is a former prisoner, freed under the terms of the
Belfast Agreement. It has also come to light that all four men are
senior members of Provisional IRA/SF.
Source (BNL) 19-01a

A former republican prisoner, 40-year-old Colm Peake, has died after
shooting himself in the head in a Garda Station in Dublin. Peake, a
member of the INLA had been sentenced to life imprisonment in the
early 1980s for conspiracy to murder and had appeared before the
anti-terrorist Special Criminal Court in the last decade on firearms
charges.
Source (UTV) 19-02a.doc

An elder of a Protestant church in north Belfast, extensively damaged
during a weekend orgy of sectarian vandalism has told how the break-in
was the worst he has seen in his lifetime.
Source (BNL) 19-03a.doc

A 21-year-old man has been treated in hospital for gunshot wounds to
both ankles after being shot by republican paramilitaries in West
Belfast.
Source (UTV) 19-04a.doc

20th February

Security minister Jane Kennedy has acknowledged that Protestant
pensioners living at the bottom of Garvaghy Road, Portadown have
sustained daily sectarian violence and harassment from SF/IRA inspired
gangs. She said "I have the greatest sympathy for those, mainly
elderly residents, whose properties adjoin (Sinn Fein/IRA controlled)
People’s Park and who are subject to gratuitous and random sectarian
attacks.”
Source (BNL) 20-01a.doc

A 50 strong republican mob attacked security force personnel and the
men and women of the PSNI as the four republicans arrested earlier in
the week at Coalisland arrived at court. The four are accused of
conspiracy to murder members of the security forces and possession of
a grenade launcher and warhead found at Coalisland on Sunday night.
Donald Mullan, 31, of Fairmount
Park, Dungannon; Brendan O'Connor, 23, of Cavanoneill Road; Pomeroy,
Sean Dillon, 24, of Roughan Way, Coalisland; and Kevin Barry Murphy,
31, of Altowen Park, Coalisland were all remanded in custody until 19
March.
Source (BBC) 20-02a.doc

Sir Bob Geldof (of Live Aid fame) has thrown his full weight behind
the families of the Omagh bomb victims, in their pursuit of civil
action against the republicans who planted and detonated the bomb in
1998, which killed 29 people and unborn twins. Sir Bob Geldof referred
to the Omagh atrocity as “our September 11th”. Meanwhile IRA/SF leader
Gerry Adams continues to instruct his supporters that they should in
no way help the security forces to catch the bombers. The bombers are,
after all Mr. Adams former colleagues.
Source (II) 20-03a.doc (UTV) 20-03b.doc

21st February

“A reported mortar attack on a Colombian army base in Pitalito which
killed 10 soldiers in the early hours of Monday, Feb. 11, has once
more raised the spectre of IRA links to the Armed Revolutionary Forces
of Colombia, or FARC. The group, described as "narco-terrorist," is
believed to have carried out the attack using a gas canister packed
with explosives fired from a pickup truck 600 yards from the base at 2
a.m. The attack came as an advertisement appeared in El Tiempo, the
Colombian newspaper, on behalf of the three Irishmen, all with IRA or
Sinn Fein links, who have been held since August in Colombian jails on
charges that they were helping FARC improve its mortar-launching
capabilities. The advertisement claims the three, James Monaghan,
Niall Connolly, and Martin McCauley, have been framed.“
Source (IEc) 21-01a.doc
22nd February

One man has been shot dead; while his brother was injured in a drug
related shooting. Matthew Burns was gunned down at Castlewellan, Co
Down. Local sources have named Burns as a drug-dealer. It is believed
mainstream IRA/SF carried out the murder after Burns either dealt in
their area or refused to pay money the IRA feel entitled to for
allowing independent drug dealers to operate in IRA/SF controlled
strongholds.
Source (II) 22-01a.doc (UTV) 22-01b.doc
26th February

Police in the Republic of Ireland have uncovered a “substantial” cache
of republican weapons. The find was made in Co. Donegal. It included
two AK 47 rifles, a pump-action shotgun, a sub-machine gun and
detonators. It is believed the find could have saved the lives of many
Protestant civilians in the Northern Ireland/Republic of Ireland
border areas. Over the last 30 years of IRA/SF violence, intimidation
and murder countless thousands of Protestant farmers and their
families were forced to flee their homes.
Source (BBC) 26-01a.doc (BT) 26-01b.doc

The Sinn Fein/IRA Cavan/Monaghan TD, Mr Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, has
refused to urge members of the public who may have information about
the murder of gardaí (Irish Police) by republicans or about illegal
IRA arms dumps to come forward. The statement was made during an
Interview on pro-SF/IRA RTÉ's Tonight with Vincent Browne.
Source (IT) 26-02a.doc

The Northern Ireland assembly has backed a motion accusing the Sinn
Fein/IRA education minister, Martin “Bogside butcher” McGuinness, of
discriminating against Protestant schools in allocating money for
building projects. Self-confessed terrorist godfather McGuinness’s
spending record shows blatant sectarianism against Protestant schools
and school children.
Source (BBC) 26-03a.doc

Five people from south Down have been ordered off the island of
Ireland by the IRA/SF murder gang which killed Castlewellan man
Matthew Burns earlier in the month. The five men - one of whom is
believed to be a close relative of the murdered man - have been told
to leave the island of Ireland or "face the same fate" as Mr Burns
(26). The threat was issued by “Oglaigh na hEireann”, the Irish
translation of IRA and the name that Gerry Adams’ IRA/SF uses when
referring to its terrorist wing. Three of the threatened men are
thought to be from Castlewellan, one from Rostrevor and one from
Newcastle.
Source (BT) 26-04a.doc (BNL) 26-04b.doc

27th February

Ruari Convey, 25, of Newbrook Avenue, Donaghmede, has pleaded guilty
to membership of an illegal organisation styling itself Oglaigh na
hEireann, otherwise the Irish Republican Army, or the IRA, on June 6,
2001. The court remanded Convey on continuing bail until April 10 for
sentencing.
Source (UTV) 27-01a.doc

Explanation of Source Abbreviations
BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation
BNL – Belfast News Letter (www.newsletter.co.uk )
BT - Belfast Telegraph
CW – Local community workers
Iec (Irish Echo)
IEx - Irish Examiner
II – Irish Independent
IT (Irish Times)
Ob – Observer (www.observer.co.uk )
SI (Sunday Independent)
STr (Sunday Tribune)
UTV – Ulster Television

Real IRA linked to drugs trade

Real IRA linked to drugs trade
By Chris Thornton
Publication Date: 18 March 2002



THE Real IRA has been linked to the drugs trade by a senior official in
America's State Department.

Rand Beers, an Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics affairs, also
told the US Congress in Washington that the three Irishmen arrested in Colombia last
year were "members of the IRA".

And the official gave further details of the links the US government believes
exist between Colombian narco-terrorists FARC and the Provisionals.

The testimony came as the US government intensifies its examination of links
between outlawed organisations across the world in the wake of the September 11
attacks. A US Congressional committee is due to explore the links further in
public hearings next month.

Mr Beers, testifying to a Senate sub- committee last week about links between
drugs and terrorism, said there is "some evidence" showing the Real IRA is
involved in drugs.

Mr Beers did not detail the evidence against the group responsible for the Omagh
bomb, and added that "the extent to which the Real IRA or other terrorist groups
in Ireland engage in drug trafficking is unclear".

Joe Dillon, a spokesman for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement - a group linked
to the Real IRA - said the drug claims were "false allegations".

"I do not believe any section of the IRA is involved in drugs," he said. "People
know these things aren't true.

"I don't believe any section of Oglaigh na hEireann, be it Provisionals, Reals
or whoever, would have anything to do with drugs. I've never seen any evidence or
proof of it."

The US official also said there were "strong indications" of a link between the
Provisional IRA and FARC, the Colombian group that he said is heavily connected
to the international drugs trade.

He said FARC had established the links "to increase its capability to conduct
urban terrorism".

"In July 2001, the Colombian National Police arrested three members of the IRA
who are believed to have used the demilitarized zone to train the FARC in the use of
explosives," Mr Beers said.

The US official also said that Basque separatist group ETA, another group with
links to the Provisionals, is involved in "in a variety of crimes from drug
trafficking to money laundering".


Source: Belfast Telegraph