29 May 1997 Edition
LVF/MI5?
By Mick Naughton.
In the telephone claim to a Belfast newsroom last Sunday morning a loyalist saying he was speaking on behalf of the conveniently formed Loyalist Volunteer Force said a bomb placed off Clanbrassil Street in Dundalk was theirs.
The caller also said another explosive device had been left in a carpark at Dublin airport. After a search of that location the alert was declared a hoax at 2.45pm.
One kilogramme of comerical mining explosives inside a thermos flask with an alarm clock attached inside a plastic bag from a boutique with outlets in Craigavon and Portadown was found in the alleyway of Dundalk's main shopping street. Local people reported hearing a small bang - this is understood to have been the detonator going off.
The loyalist caller warned that further attacks would continue ``as long as Dublin interferes in Ulster affairs.'' The loyalist added that further ``no-warning bomb attacks'' would take place.
The fact that the bag containing the device emanated from the Portadown area lends support to the suspicion that agents acting on behalf of British Intelligence are following a well worn path. The UVF bombers who carried out the 17 May 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings had active assistance from British military agents. Although no one has ever been convicted of those attacks, the highest death toll in any one day of 27 years of the present conflict, the names of those involved are freely available after a British television documentary named them.
In the telephone claim to a Belfast newsroom last Sunday morning a loyalist saying he was speaking on behalf of the conveniently formed Loyalist Volunteer Force said a bomb placed off Clanbrassil Street in Dundalk was theirs.
The caller also said another explosive device had been left in a carpark at Dublin airport. After a search of that location the alert was declared a hoax at 2.45pm.
One kilogramme of comerical mining explosives inside a thermos flask with an alarm clock attached inside a plastic bag from a boutique with outlets in Craigavon and Portadown was found in the alleyway of Dundalk's main shopping street. Local people reported hearing a small bang - this is understood to have been the detonator going off.
The loyalist caller warned that further attacks would continue ``as long as Dublin interferes in Ulster affairs.'' The loyalist added that further ``no-warning bomb attacks'' would take place.
The fact that the bag containing the device emanated from the Portadown area lends support to the suspicion that agents acting on behalf of British Intelligence are following a well worn path. The UVF bombers who carried out the 17 May 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings had active assistance from British military agents. Although no one has ever been convicted of those attacks, the highest death toll in any one day of 27 years of the present conflict, the names of those involved are freely available after a British television documentary named them.