Free Republic

Think the IRA has stepped off the world stage? Their role is closer to that of ringleader. One of America’s most influential terrorist enemies traces its lineage back some thirty years — and it isn’t a Muslim organization.In splinter groups like the Continuity IRA and more recently the Real IRA, Irish terrorists have positioned themselves at the center of a network connecting revolutionary FARC rebels in Colombia, Hezbollah in the Middle East, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Taliban forces in Afghanistan currently fighting and killing American troops. The IRA and PFLP have trained together and coordinated attacks, weapons smuggling, and other...

Banks and bankers are now potential targets for the Real IRA, leaders of the dissident republican terror group have warned in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Despite having only 100 activists they also said that targets in England remained a high priority.

"Car bomb explodes in Derry" IRISH TIMES REPORTERS SNIPPET: "A car bomb has exploded outside a police station in the North. The blast occurred at about 3.20am in a taxi which had been parked outside Strand Road police station in Derry. Damage was caused to the station and the perimeter wall but no one was injured in the incident. The explosion follows a telephone warning that a device had been planted in front of the station. According to the PSNI, a taxi driver was approached by two men on Cook Street at about 3am, one of whom had a gun....

(CNN) -- Northern Ireland police said Saturday they were investigating a car bomb that exploded overnight in the city of Derry, about 70 miles northwest of Belfast.

Police say a car bomb has exploded outside a British Army barracks in Northern Ireland. The blast was behind Palace Barracks in Holywood, Belfast, at 12.24am and is described as "ongoing". Reporting from the scene, Sky's Ireland correspondent Vicky Hawthorne said: "Police are not confirming this but there are unconfirmed reports of some injuries on the ground.

Murphy acquitted over Omagh bombing COLM MURPHY walked free from the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday after he was cleared at a retrial of a conspiracy charge in relation to the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people and injured more than 300. Mr Murphy said after being acquitted of the charge: “I am glad to see it’s all over. Find out who was behind it – MI5 agents setting people up.” The three-judge non-jury court ruled that there was no evidence upon which the court could have convicted Mr Murphy after it ruled that all the evidence of...

Newly-released documents have revealed the UK's "special relationship" with the US was under strain at the height of the Northern Ireland Troubles. The National Archives files show the murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA in 1979 did not prompt the response from the US that the UK had hoped for. While president Jimmy Carter expressed his "profound sadness" at the death, he made no reference to terrorism. Downing St privately said his failure to condemn the IRA was a "deficiency". The murder of Lord Mountbatten by the IRA on 27 August 1979 sparked shock and anger around the world....

A new dissent Republican group may be forming in Northern Ireland. The organization would include dissidents that have defected from the Continuity IRA and the Real IRA. The group will not have a name, with the deliberate aim of confusing members of the security forces.

PHOTO CAPTION: "A second al-Qaeda terror cell is believed to be planning carnage in the UK." SNIPPET: "Senior security sources last night revealed they are hunting extremists aiming to bomb a location such as a nightclub or shopping centre. They believe the cell will target London rather than the North- West, where 11 men were arrested on Wednesday, as the capital holds more "international significance"." Evidence gleaned from the arrests was revealed to Cobra, Whitehall's emergency committee of intelligence chiefs and ministers.

Security sources in Northern Ireland fear the next attack by Republican dissidents is likely to involve a bomb, Sky News has confirmed. It follows reports that the Real IRA has smuggled a large device into the province from the South. Sky's Home Affairs correspondent Mark White says the focus of investigations is now on a 300lb car bomb left at Castelwellen at the end of January. That bomb was diffused after a warning call was received. It caused a security alert outside the town for five days. Security sources suggest that whoever put the "sophisticated" device together was an experienced...

Two military personnel were killed and four people seriously wounded in a shooting at a British army base in Northern Ireland, police said Saturday. "The two fatalities as I understand it are military personnel," a police spokeswoman said,

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Unexploded bomb found at house being built by UUP peer Gardaí in Co Louth are investigating the discovery of an unexploded bomb at a construction site near the border yesterday afternoon. The device, which is understood to have contained around 70 pounds of an explosive mixture, was found in a downstairs room at a house being built near Hackballscross. Gardaí said it would have destroyed the house if it had exploded. It was made safe yesterday by bomb disposal experts, who later took it away for further examination. Reports this morning say the house where the bomb was found was...

The dissident republican Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the firebomb attacks on stores in Newry this week. Firebombs destroyed JJB Sports and CarpetRight stores in the town whilst a TK Maxx store and MFI outlet were among those badly damaged on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the cross-border railway line between Newry and Dundalk has been closed while police carry out a search. It follows the Real IRA's warning in its statement that there may be unexploded devices on the line. The firebomb attacks earlier this week are estimated to have caused damage worth hundreds of thousands of pounds. Newry's SDLP mayor...

Judge throws out Omagh bomb suspect's legal challenge 28/04/2006 - 15:04:46 The trial of the man charged with the Omagh bomb atrocity should go ahead in September, a judge ruled today. Confirmation that Sean Hoey, aged 36, should stand trial came when a judge threw out an application by lawyers acting for the electrician that the charges should be dropped. In a ruling at Belfast Crown Court Mr Justice Weir said he had carefully considered submissions made by both the defence and the Crown during a No Bills Application and had decided there was a case to answer and the...

When Palestinians revealed their true colors electing Hamas to 74 seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the Arab world was dumb-struck. An Islamist terror group had finally snatched power from the ruling old guard and woke up the world to a new Middle East reality. But does Hamas' victory really represent the decisive shift where Palestinian politics began going down-hill? Historians and students of current affairs often compare the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to that between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republican Army (IRA), in which an organization claiming to represent Catholics took up arms against Irish Protestants and the British. For...

The director of the Centre for Public Inquiry today accused Minister for Justice Michael McDowell of joining a witch hunt against him, over claims he was connected to an IRA plot to sell information to Farc guerrillas. Frank Connolly denied he had travelled to Colombia using a false passport, and said the allegations were made to detract from the centre’s independent inquiries on Trim Castle and the Corrib Gas project. Mr McDowell last night accused Mr Connolly of being linked to the IRA scheme to provide Colombian terrorists with bomb-making information in return for cash. In a written reply to...

A man has appeared before a sitting of the Special Criminal Court in connection with the discovery of a bomb in a car at the Westlink toll bridge in Dublin. Martin O'Rourke, 22, of Sheepmore Grove, Blanchardstown has been remanded in custody. Another 56-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the bomb find is still being detained at Clondalkin garda station. The bomb was discovered in a car on the M50 in Dublin on Thursday night. It is believed it was primed for use. Detectives are working on the possibility that the find may be linked to a vigilante...

Tuesday, 10th May, 2005 Euro MPs will today back the McCartney sisters' fight for justice over the murder of their brother Robert. A resolution due to be approved in Strasbourg calls for the unprecedented use of EU anti-terror funds to finance a civil legal action if Northern Ireland police fail to bring a criminal prosecution. Mr McCartney was stabbed and beaten to death after a row in a Belfast bar on January 30th. Last night, MEPs condemned Sinn Féin and accused the "self-styled Irish Republic Army" of creating a climate of fear that has prevented potential witnesses from coming forward....

A man (35) is to be charged later this month with murdering 29 people who died in the Omagh bomb massacre, the Northern Ireland High Court was told today. Papers are to be served on Sean Gerard Hoey who is already in custody accused of a series of paramilitary offences. Although it was reported police are set to bring charges against him over the worst single atrocity in Northern Ireland, his defence said today that had not yet happened. But a Crown barrister disclosed the wheels were in motion during an adjourned bail application at the High Court in Belfast....