Northern Ireland police are investigating whether the assassination attempt on a police officer at Omagh was the work of Republican terrorists. “We are keeping all options open, but are primarily looking at involvement of the New Irish Republican Army,” said a police spokesman. The victim is in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
The attack on Wednesday evening deeply shocked Northern Ireland. A senior Northern Ireland police officer, John Caldwell, was shot at by two perpetrators in front of young people, including his own son, after training a youth football team in his spare time. Even when Caldwell was already on the ground, the two continued to shoot, according to a colleague.
The suspects’ car was later found burned out on the outskirts of the village. That is exactly where one of the deadliest IRA attacks took place in 1998. 29 people died when a car bomb exploded in a busy shopping street. That makes the suspicion of the New Irish Republican Army (New IRA) all the greater.
Fear that violence will return
The assassination attempt also fuels fears that terrorist violence may return to the Irish part of the United Kingdom. An eyewitness said according to the local newspaper Irish News from Belfast: ,,Horrible, I thought we had put this behind us”.
For over a hundred years, the status of Northern Ireland has led to major conflicts between supporters (unionists) and opponents (republicans) of separating the region from the rest of Ireland. From the 1960s to 1998, the republican terrorist group IRA was active in bombings and assassinations, among other things. The terror was not limited to Northern Ireland, the IRA also committed crimes in the rest of the United Kingdom and was active in the Netherlands on several occasions.
Brexit makes status uncertain again
The conflict was temporarily resolved with the peace agreements of 1998 and the IRA refrained from armed struggle. Some ‘dissidents’ disagreed. Some call themselves New IRA, a merger of several activist groups. One of these was the Real IRA, which is responsible for the 2019 murder of journalist Lyra McKee.
The virtually open border with the Republic of Ireland as a result of EU membership also helped stop the violence. However, since the British left the EU and Northern Ireland now has a temporary and disputed status within the EU, there are fears that political violence may return to the region.
British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris called it a “serious and significant event”. “It was a cowardly and ruthless attack.” He promises to go to Northern Ireland soon.
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