AN UPSURGE in IRA activity accompanied by a loyalist back lash are feared in the wake of yesterday's killing of two RUC officers in Lurgan, Co Armagh. The peace process has been plunged into crisis and prospects' for compromise over Drumcree are now bleaker than ever.
Const Roland John Graham and Const David Andrew Johnston were shot in the head by two people who ran up to them at about 11.45 a.m. and shot them from behind at point blank range. The assailants' car was found burnt out in the nearby nationalist Kilwilkee estate.
The two constables were the first RUC members to be killed by the IRA since it abandoned its ceasefire in February last year. Their deaths bring the number of RUC fatalities since the Troubles began to more than 300.
The killings have been "unreservedly condemned" by the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition which is opposing the Drumcree parade. Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, a coalition spokesman and councillor, said: "I have no hesitation in condemning the two killings today." These killings and the killings of Catholics by loyalist paramilitaries showed the urgent need for political dialogue, he said.
Security sources expected more IRA actions in Northern Ireland and possibly in Britain. Sinn Fein became increasingly isolated as the British Prime Minister, Mr Blair, called off a meeting planned between the party and senior civil servants in the Northern Ireland Office. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, who with Mr Blair was at the Amsterdam summit, indicated there would be no further contact between his Government officials and Sinn Fein and there was negative reaction from the White House.
A proposed meeting on Thursday between Sinn Fein and the Fianna Fail leader, Mr Ahern, is in doubt. The Fianna Fail leader left the possibility open, as long as the subject was a new IRA ceasefire. However, Mr Bruton said such a meeting would be "terrible".
Loyalist spokesmen voiced fears of a backlash and nationalist communities all over Northern Ireland were exercising increased vigilance. The Lurgan attack came alter a lull in IRA activity which coincided with the elections North and South. The fact that it took place a few miles from Drumcree has exacerbated tensions further.
In a statement which was considered stronger than usual on these occasions, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams said: "At a personal and at a human level I am shocked. I think that any death in this situation diminishes all of us.
"These deaths must act as a huge incentive on those of us in political leadership to redouble our efforts to get the peace process restored," Mr Adams said. However, Mr Bruton poured scorn on the statement and said Sinn Fein had "ransacked the dictionary".
Neither Mr Blair nor the Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, definitively broke off all contact with Sinn Fein for the future, although both of them ruled out meetings "in these circumstances".
Nationalist sources in the peace process said the prospects for the third meeting between Sinn Fein and British civil servants had been very good until yesterday's killings, which had been completely destructive on a political level.
In a statement Dr Mowlam said: "At a time when Northern Ireland is holding its breath and hoping for peace, those intent on evil have struck." However, the British government would not be intimidated in its efforts to bring about peace.