IRA dissidents who resigned from the mainstream republican movement during the past seven months have regrouped and set up a new organisation which they are calling the IRA.
The group is small in number and has suffered heavy reverses at the hands of the Garda. It emerged last October when a number of members of the IRA's 12-strong "army executive", including the quartermaster general, resigned in protest at the peace process.
Further defections followed, with the dissidents gaining recruits in the Republic and in Border areas of Northern Ireland.
The dissidents have formed a new IRA "army executive", which will elect an army council to run the new organisation. It is expected to oppose the Belfast Agreement and share similar political views to the 32-County Sovereignty Committee. It will be an entirely separate organisation from the Continuity IRA.
An IRA source in west Belfast said there was strong speculation that the dissidents were planning to "up the ante".
He said: "We are expecting movement from them, but we are confident that whatever they say we will be able to challenge 100 per cent, and we wholeheartedly believe that the vast majority of volunteers will remain loyal to the leadership."
An RUC spokesman said that as he had no immediate knowledge of the reports, he could not comment on them.
The dissidents are believed to have planted the bomb which caused widespread damage in Portadown, Co Armagh, earlier this year and to have been responsible for several attempted bombings, including one attempt to transport a bomb to Britain. They were also responsible for the attempted robbery in Ashford, Co Wicklow, in which Mr Ronan Mac Lochlainn was shot dead by gardai last week.
Security figures on both sides of the Border have said they represent the most serious threat to the peace process on the republican side. The dissident organisation is committed to continuing a paramilitary campaign.