Irish terror groups 'to hit London'
· Police and MI5 issue warning to British businesses
· 'Substantial threat' from dissident republican groups
Martin Bright and Henry McDonald
Sunday March 20, 2005
The Observer
Police have issued a stark warning that mainland Britain faces a 'substantial threat' of an Irish republican bombing campaign, The Observer can reveal.
Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism section sent out an email about a new threat to businesses across London on Friday evening, following intelligence received from MI5 about an increase in activity from breakaway groups such as the Real IRA.
The chilling note, seen by The Observer, states: 'Reporting indicates that dissident Irish republican terrorists are currently planning to mount attacks on the UK mainland.'
It goes on to explain that methods used by dissident groups in Northern Ireland could be transferred to Britain. These include 'incendiary and improved explosive devices' used in recent republican campaigns, 'postal devices' and 'shooting attacks'. The police warning adds that hoax calls have also been made 'to amplify the disruptive effect of such attacks'. The level of the threat is now said to be 'substantial', just one stage below the 'severe general' threat from al-Qaeda.
The email seen by this newspaper was sent from Martin Gurney, an inspector from the counter-terrorism section of the Metropolitan Police, to London First, a campaign group that works with 300 major firms to promote the capital. It was received just after 5.30pm on Friday by Denica Lundberg, who co-ordinates the organisation's dealings with the police.
Police and the intelligence services warned of an increase in the threat from the Provisional IRA at the beginning of February after strong signals that they would return to the armed conflict following the breakdown of negotiations over arms decommissioning.
One Whitehall intelligence source warned of making too clear a distinction between dissident groups and the IRA itself. 'It is often convenient for the security services to talk about "provisionals" and "dissidents", but there are an awful lot of grey areas and blurring of the edges,' he said.
Irish police have been concerned about the 'cross-fertilisation' between the IRA and dissident members who have been working together. There were two separate incidents in the Republic over the last month in which supposed dissidents turned out to be members of the Provisional IRA. One officer said it was even possible that dissidents were being used as cover.
Police counter-terrorism sources said that existing resources would be sufficient to cope with the heightened risk as anti-terror police were already in a state of readiness to cope with al-Qaeda.
In early February the IRA issued a statement to the British and Irish governments saying: 'Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation.'
The note came 24 hours after it withdrew an offer to decommission weapons.
The spectre of a new bombing campaign has raised the stakes. It was thought that the Real IRA, which was responsible for the Omagh bomb in August 1998, had been largely dismantled. It is not known if the new threat comes from a newly revived version of the breakaway organisation, another group such as the Continuity IRA or a new splinter group altogether.
Dissident groups are thought to be in disarray and heavily infiltrated, although there is some overlap between them and mainstream IRA in South Armagh, Cork and Dublin.
Last night, a senior Irish detective said that while it was unclear if the entire IRA organisation had decided to sanction an attack on Britain, there were forces inside mainstream republicanism in favour of a short, sharp attack.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the threat level had been raised on Friday. She said the warning was sent out as part of a system to inform companies and businesses in the City of London to remain vigilant against terrorism.
The upgrading of the threat level will raise fears about the collapse of the peace process - already under pressure after allegations of IRA involvement in the murder of Robert McCartney and the raid on the Northern Bank in Belfast last December in which £26 million was stolen.
Prior to the collapse of all-party talks in December, a group of republicans still inside the Provisional IRA contacted The Observer . They passed on a statement opposing any moves to decommission weapons as part of a deal to get Sinn Fein into government in Belfast with Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.
Senior detectives in Dublin believe that the Northern Bank robbery was sanctioned by IRA leadership because it was seen as an alternative to a renewed bombing campaign in Britain. The heist has been described as a 'bloodless spectacular' against the British state.
On Friday, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said that there was 'no hope' of political progress until the question of IRA criminality had been dealt with. Speaking from Washington, where he had celebrated St Patrick's Day, he said the onus was now on Sinn Fein to deal with IRA lawlessness.
He added: 'As far as the political process is concerned, to all intents and purposes we are not talking about any future negotiations or discussions until the issue about criminal activity on the part of the IRA is addressed.'
· Police and MI5 issue warning to British businesses
· 'Substantial threat' from dissident republican groups
Martin Bright and Henry McDonald
Sunday March 20, 2005
The Observer
Police have issued a stark warning that mainland Britain faces a 'substantial threat' of an Irish republican bombing campaign, The Observer can reveal.
Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism section sent out an email about a new threat to businesses across London on Friday evening, following intelligence received from MI5 about an increase in activity from breakaway groups such as the Real IRA.
The chilling note, seen by The Observer, states: 'Reporting indicates that dissident Irish republican terrorists are currently planning to mount attacks on the UK mainland.'
It goes on to explain that methods used by dissident groups in Northern Ireland could be transferred to Britain. These include 'incendiary and improved explosive devices' used in recent republican campaigns, 'postal devices' and 'shooting attacks'. The police warning adds that hoax calls have also been made 'to amplify the disruptive effect of such attacks'. The level of the threat is now said to be 'substantial', just one stage below the 'severe general' threat from al-Qaeda.
The email seen by this newspaper was sent from Martin Gurney, an inspector from the counter-terrorism section of the Metropolitan Police, to London First, a campaign group that works with 300 major firms to promote the capital. It was received just after 5.30pm on Friday by Denica Lundberg, who co-ordinates the organisation's dealings with the police.
Police and the intelligence services warned of an increase in the threat from the Provisional IRA at the beginning of February after strong signals that they would return to the armed conflict following the breakdown of negotiations over arms decommissioning.
One Whitehall intelligence source warned of making too clear a distinction between dissident groups and the IRA itself. 'It is often convenient for the security services to talk about "provisionals" and "dissidents", but there are an awful lot of grey areas and blurring of the edges,' he said.
Irish police have been concerned about the 'cross-fertilisation' between the IRA and dissident members who have been working together. There were two separate incidents in the Republic over the last month in which supposed dissidents turned out to be members of the Provisional IRA. One officer said it was even possible that dissidents were being used as cover.
Police counter-terrorism sources said that existing resources would be sufficient to cope with the heightened risk as anti-terror police were already in a state of readiness to cope with al-Qaeda.
In early February the IRA issued a statement to the British and Irish governments saying: 'Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation.'
The note came 24 hours after it withdrew an offer to decommission weapons.
The spectre of a new bombing campaign has raised the stakes. It was thought that the Real IRA, which was responsible for the Omagh bomb in August 1998, had been largely dismantled. It is not known if the new threat comes from a newly revived version of the breakaway organisation, another group such as the Continuity IRA or a new splinter group altogether.
Dissident groups are thought to be in disarray and heavily infiltrated, although there is some overlap between them and mainstream IRA in South Armagh, Cork and Dublin.
Last night, a senior Irish detective said that while it was unclear if the entire IRA organisation had decided to sanction an attack on Britain, there were forces inside mainstream republicanism in favour of a short, sharp attack.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police confirmed that the threat level had been raised on Friday. She said the warning was sent out as part of a system to inform companies and businesses in the City of London to remain vigilant against terrorism.
The upgrading of the threat level will raise fears about the collapse of the peace process - already under pressure after allegations of IRA involvement in the murder of Robert McCartney and the raid on the Northern Bank in Belfast last December in which £26 million was stolen.
Prior to the collapse of all-party talks in December, a group of republicans still inside the Provisional IRA contacted The Observer . They passed on a statement opposing any moves to decommission weapons as part of a deal to get Sinn Fein into government in Belfast with Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party.
Senior detectives in Dublin believe that the Northern Bank robbery was sanctioned by IRA leadership because it was seen as an alternative to a renewed bombing campaign in Britain. The heist has been described as a 'bloodless spectacular' against the British state.
On Friday, Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy said that there was 'no hope' of political progress until the question of IRA criminality had been dealt with. Speaking from Washington, where he had celebrated St Patrick's Day, he said the onus was now on Sinn Fein to deal with IRA lawlessness.
He added: 'As far as the political process is concerned, to all intents and purposes we are not talking about any future negotiations or discussions until the issue about criminal activity on the part of the IRA is addressed.'
