Geography 1200: World Regional Geography
Spring Semester, 2009
BACK TO HOMEPAGE
Article Two: 'Real IRA
was behind army attack'
BBC News (Mar 8, 2009)
A
Dublin-based newspaper has received a call supposedly from the Real IRA which
claimed responsibility for the attack at Massereene
army base. Using
a recognised codename, it claimed responsibility for
the attack in which two soldiers were killed. Four other people, including two
pizza delivery men, were also injured when gunmen struck at the Antrim base. The
prime minister described the attack as "evil" and said "no
murderer" would derail the peace process. The soldiers are the first to be
murdered in Northern Ireland
since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was killed
by an IRA sniper in 1997. The dead men, both in their early 20s were due to fly
to Afghanistan
in the coming days. Flowers have been laid at the scene and a vigil was held
nearby on Sunday. The Real IRA was born out of a split in the mainstream
Provisional IRA in October 1997, when the IRA's
so-called quartermaster-general resigned over Sinn Fein's direction in the
peace process. It carried out the worst single atrocity of over 30 years of
violence in Northern Ireland
when it bombed the County Tyrone town of Omagh, killing 29 people, in
August 1998. The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland has
said he does not believe the attack at Massereene was
a response to him deploying special forces soldiers. Sir
Hugh Orde had asked for help to gather intelligence
on dissident activity. Northern
Ireland's top police officer also said he
had no plans to deploy additional military personnel. "The police deliver
policing in Northern Ireland,
and that is exactly how it is going to stay," he said. Gordon Brown told
the BBC: "I think the whole country is shocked and outraged at the evil
and cowardly attacks on soldiers serving their country. "We
will do everything in our power to make sure that Northern Ireland is safe and secure
and I assure you we will bring these murderers to justice. "No murderer
will be able to derail a peace process that has the support of the great
majority of Northern Ireland."
All four injured men are being treated at Antrim Area
Hospital, about a mile
away from the scene. Of those who were injured, three are in a serious
condition and another is said to be serious but stable.
Pizza
Chief superintendent
Derek Williamson said at about 2120 GMT on Saturday night a pizza delivery
service sent two delivery men to the Antrim barracks. As they arrived, shots
began to be fired from a car. He said the pizza delivery men were an innocent
party and both were among those injured. After two gunmen with automatic rifles
fired an initial volley of shots, which left those under attack lying on the
ground, they moved forward and opened fire again. He said: "There's no
doubt whatsoever in my mind that this was an attempt at mass murder." The
area surrounding the barracks, which is home to 38 Engineer Regiment, has been
sealed off. The delivery drivers bullet-riddled cars
are still at the scene. Police are examining a car in Randalstown,
five miles from the army base, which they suspect may have been used by the
gunmen. NI's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former IRA member, said nobody should say or
do anything which would see Northern
Ireland return to its troubles.
"I supported the IRA
during the conflict, I myself was a member of the IRA but that war is
over," said the Sinn Fein MP. "Now the people responsible for that
last night's incident are clearly signalling that
they want to resume or restart that war." Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams
described the shooting as an attack on the "peace process" and said
it was "wrong and counter-productive". "Those responsible have
no support, no strategy to achieve a United Ireland," he said. "Their
intention is to bring British soldiers back onto the streets. They want to
destroy the progress of recent times and to plunge Ireland back into conflict." Northern Ireland's First Minister and Democratic
Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson offered his sympathies to the families of
the victims, and said he and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness would postpone a scheduled trip to the United States. Mr Robinson said the attack was a "terrible reminder
of the events of the past". He said information that those responsible had
"deliberately turned their weapons on civilians" after murdering the
soldiers gave an "idea of the crazed gunmen involved in this". "It
is the duty of everyone to ensure these people are defeated," he said. Northern Ireland
Secretary Shaun Woodward condemned the shootings as "an act of criminal
barbarism". N Ireland is a peace loving country, we have moved way beyond conflict. This heinous act
deserves the full condemnation of all Tony, N
Ireland
Loyalist political
representatives made a plea to people within their communities not to
retaliate. Frankie Gallagher, from the Ulster Political Research Group, which
has links with the paramilitary UDA, said: "The people who carried out
this attack have no mandate for their futile actions. "Their
communities, the Irish nationalist and republican communities in Northern Ireland,
must let them know that loud and clear." A spokesman for the US Department
of State said: "Our condolences go out to the families of the slain
soldiers. "We call on all parties in Northern Ireland to unequivocally reject such
senseless acts of violence, whose intention is to destroy the peace that so
many in Northern Ireland
have worked so hard to achieve."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7930995.stm.