Further attacks are expected by the Continuity IRA following a statement from its Derry Brigade which voiced strong opposition to the Stormont talks. "Armed struggle" was the only way forward for republicans, it said. Last week the CIRA attempted to bomb British government offices in the city. No serious damage was caused because the device only partially exploded.
However, security sources expressed concern because the bomb contained Semtex. The RUC Chief Constable, Mr Ronnie Flanagan, said the paramilitary group was a growing threat.
The IRA ceasefire remains "remarkably stable," he said in Saturday's Belfast Telegraph, but the Continuity IRA, the Loyalist Volunteer Force and the INLA posed a "realistic threat."
It was still too early to say whether the IRA had permanently abandoned violence but he acknowledged that it "represents a very significantly reduced level of terrorist threat."
Security sources say that the CIRA is the military wing of Republican Sinn Fein, a claim denied by the party. Two months ago it caused millions of pounds worth of damage when it bombed Markethill RUC station in Co Armagh.
In a statement at the weekend, its Derry Brigade accused the Provisional leadership of "negative and collaborationist thinking" and said that it would be challenged "from grassroots up wards". The Stormont negotiations, it said, offered only a partitionist settlement.
It urged nationalists, and in particular young people, to be "vigilant against compromisers who would have them collaborate in running the Six County statelet under a supposed smoke-screen of `parity of esteem'."
It continued: "We firmly believe that even with cross-Border boards, an internal settlement within British-occupied Ireland, based on the Downing Street Declaration and Framework Document, will not work. We believe that the continuation of the armed struggle is the only sure way of establishing a truly genuine national democracy."
The paramilitary group said that a British withdrawal was not on the agenda at the Stormont talks, and called on the Provisionals to stop claiming otherwise.
"The unionist veto will remain intact, simply because it suits the long-term aspirations of the British ruling class, regardless of whether Labour or the Tories hold the parliamentary majority at Westminster.
"The Provisionals' political leadership, it logically follows, will have to swallow the unionist veto, and therefore should stop pretending that all will be sweetness and light come May 1998."
The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, has said that she wants to see decommissioning during the Stormont talks. She said that while she could not force paramilitary groups to hand over arms, she was committed to creating the conditions that would make it possible.
The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, attended the annual remembrance service for the Royal Irish Regiment in St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast yesterday. Earlier, he opened the RIR's regimental museum at St Patrick's Barracks in Ballymena, Co Antrim. The prince is colonel-inchief of the regiment.