HAS AL QAEDA JOINED REAL IRA PLOT?
The Queen is seen as potential target
NORTHERN Ireland has been put on terrorist alert for the Queen’s visit later this month.
Police have stepped up security not only because of the threat from dissident republicans but amid concern over an increase in suspected Al Qaeda activity in Ireland.
It is feared that the two groups may be sharing expertise.
Police have set up checkpoints on routes from the republic into Northern Ireland ahead of the Maundy Thursday service on March 20 in Armagh which the Queen will attend........
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/37456/Has-Al-Qaeda-joined-Real-IRA-plot-
RECAP:
"The heightened security follows a warning by Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde that groups such as the Real IRA intend to cause “much damage” to the peace process.
It also coincides with an announcement by Interpol last week that it is hunting two Al Qaeda terrorists believed to be on the run in Ireland.
Shafiq Al-Ayadi, 45, has dual Bosnian and Tunisian nationality and passports and uses 12 aliases including Ben Mohamed.
Ibrahim Bouisir, 47, has both Irish and Libyan passports and is wanted for terrorism offences. According to Interpol he has close links with Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda"
(http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/37456/Has-Al-Qaeda-joined-Real-IRA-plot- ) - url from post no. 196.
#
stepping back in time (to Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2008):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/feb/14/northernireland.northernireland
“Member of Real IRA found shot dead in churchyard”
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent
The Guardian, Thursday February 14 2008
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Police are investigating the death of a man who is believed to be the first victim of a Republican terrorist murder in Northern Ireland for six years.
The body of Andrew Burns was found wrapped in a red blanket in a churchyard in the Irish Republic on Tuesday evening. Security sources told the Guardian yesterday that Burns, 27, had been a member of the Real IRA, the dissident republican terror group opposed to the peace process.
They said it was unclear whether he had been targeted because the Real IRA regarded him as an informer or as a result of a feud with another paramilitary organisation.
Burns, from Clady, near Strabane, was still alive when he was taken out of a car near the church in Doneyloop, Castlefin, a small village in County Donegal.
Locals reported hearing at least two shots and the police believe the victim was killed in the church graveyard. A nurse who rushed from a nearby youth club to the scene tried to resuscitate him but he died a short time later.”