BRITISH ARMY technical officers have made safe an unexploded bomb found under the car of a police officer in Co Down. It was the latest in a spate of dissident-linked violent incidents over the past week.
Meanwhile, in Co Louth, gardaí working against dissident republican groups have arrested five people. Two were detained in Ardee and three in Dundalk, under section 30 of the Offences against the State Act. A balaclava and a firearm were also recovered.
The incidents have prompted Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to press the British government to move effectively against dissident factions.
He said it made “no sense whatever to have the blind eye turned to them. That is undermining the peace process and I believe the British government has a responsibility to get to grips with it.”
The Kilkeel alert began on Saturday when the device was discovered at an address in the Fearon Close area, off Scrogg Road.
The officer is a Catholic who is the niece of a former Sinn Féin councillor Martin Connolly. He quit the party in 2007 and is now an Independent republican. She was unhurt, however homes in the vicinity were evacuated for a time.
Mr Connolly, a member of Newry and Mourne council, has declined to condemn this latest suspected dissident republican attack, claiming he did not want to get into “the politics of condemnation”.
“It hasn’t done any good in the past, nor will it do any good in the future,” he said. “The fact of the matter is – let’s deal with facts and be realistic about it – while there’s British occupation in Ireland there will always be opposition to that, whether you agree with it or not.”
He has been severely criticised for his comments.
SDLP leader and South Down MP Margaret Ritchie said the constituency would “stand with the officer and against those who would bring destruction and murder into this peaceful community”.
DUP Assembly member Jim Wells said: “We’ve seen a week with dissident attacks in Londonderry, Bangor and now Kilkeel. The message is very clear – the dissident threat is throughout Northern Ireland. Those who are saying it’s one or two isolated pockets are totally wrong.”
Sinn Féin Assembly member Caitríona Ruane also criticised those who were “ignoring the people of Ireland and attempting to carry out an unjustified campaign of violence”.
Northern Secretary Owen Paterson said the spate of recent attacks, which included the bombing of Strand Road police station in Derry, a shooting incident in the city and the attempted murder of a British army major in Bangor, Co Down, were “irrational and evil”.
Local PSNI superintendent Barbara Gray said: “This was a focused and cowardly attack on the life of a police officer, an officer who works daily to protect her local community.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, responding to a cool reaction by the 32 County Sovereignty Movement to a Sinn Féin invitation to talks, stood by the value of discussions.
“This is not a stunt,” he said.
He added: “As the party elected by republican communities to lead, we have a responsibility to provide political leadership. This is what we are doing.”
He wanted groups allied to dissident factions “to reflect on the political realities of Ireland in 2010”.