Here we go again, Bombings in Northern Ireland.

Well I was sitting up late last night reading random topics on ATS when I heard an almighty explosion, it was shortly after 3am, the entire house shook and my ears were ringing for a long time afterwards. Turns out that the dissident republicans here are up to their old tricks again .

They forced a taxi driver at gunpoint to drive a 200lb proxy bomb which they planted in the boot of his car to the Strand road police station ( which is just down the street from me )

The group claiming to be 'Olaigh nEireann' a dissident republican organisation, phoned in a warning to the police station that the bomb would go off in 45 minutes, but the bomb went off after just 23 minutes. We are very very lucky here that noone was killed. The police did not get enough time to properly evacuate the surrounding areas.

I think this is really terrible, this city has tried very hard in recent years to move on and leave the 'troubles' behind. We won the UK City of Culture award last month, which in so doing so everyone here thought that this would be an excellent opportunity for this city to increase tourism and bring more investment to the city. Now Im afraid that the actions of a few bitter peace hating eejits who want to drive this city backwards and who are intent in ruining the peace process may spoil all the good work many people have done in trying to regenerate this place.

Its an utter shame. Those men should be ashamed of themselves.

Heres a link to a site with more info on the bomb and a video

UTV News

Thankfully no one was hurt. How long have their been bombings in Ireland?
Second line.

Pity this is happening. The world is a crazy enough place today without having dissidence and strife within our own countries.

Funny though, that these are "dissidents." I'm sure that here we'd call them "terrorists." But I guess these days that title is more reserved for those of the Muslim persuasion.

Originally posted by Romantic_Rebel
Thankfully no one was hurt. How long have their been bombings in Ireland?
Second line.

You are better asking when wasnt their bombings in Ireland. I cant remember. There is always dissidents intent on dragging us backwards and who do not want to follow the peace process that the majority of people here have agreed upon. Its just recently tho that they appear to have increased the threat and upped their antics. They have promised more bombs.

So it seems the warning was meant to catch people off guard. We're going to see this escalate over the next few years IMO, Irelands new dissidents are going to cause us more problems than ever if they get the chance.

Originally posted by Catch_a_Fire
So it seems the warning was meant to catch people off guard. We're going to see this escalate over the next few years IMO, Irelands new dissidents are going to cause us more problems than ever if they get the chance.

Yeah I think it was a kick in the teeth for them seeing Derry named as a 'UK' city of culture. Instead of looking at it in a way that it could enable our lovely city to better itself via investment and tourism, they look at it as an insult to injury.

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


What worries me is that todays culture is a lot more aggressive and determined than ever before. If you put this in perspective with how the current affairs in Ireland may play out, you have to assume that we're in for a rough ride.

reply to post by Catch_a_Fire


Yes thats true. I fear it will only get worse.

I read during the week about how the dissidents are intent on recruiting more into their ranks. The only people I can think of here who will join up with them are disillusioned young men, those who were not around for the worst of the troubles. Young impressionable guys who are fed up with society and the current economic crisis are perfect targets.

I served a 3 and a bit year stint in NI (91-94) then lived there on and off until 2000 with my ex wife... I have seen many devices of this type go off including those pesky mark 12 mortars and vehicle born ied's, however now, after living in the community, i have more respect and simpathy to the republican side than the so called loyalists who wouldstab you in the back without a second thought... At least with the repubicans you know where you stand and even have a grudging respect for each other.. The UVFs of the world are just wanna be wee hard men, gangsters and cowrds at best who only serve their own pockets via drug dealing and racketeering..
Although thi was done by republicans, it would just give excuse to loyalist nutjobs who fancy a ruck

I hope for your sake that these incidents become less and less over the comming years as the good, hard working people of Ulster demonize these acts and no longer gice the perpetraters succor as they used too..

Northern Ireland has soo much potential in terms of high calibre, inteligent people who have been held back for too long by a few thugish morons..

[edit on 3-8-2010 by Yissachar1]

You talk a load of bollox...republican , loyalist violence is terrorism no matter what means they use.

just because the Republican IRA had better more sophiscated weaponary than the loyalists doesnt make them anymore acceptable to the people of Northern Ireland who were tortured for decades by these scumbags.

This post is about an republican IRA Bomb in Londonderry....its got nothing to do with Loyalists wanting to start a ruck ....... Loyalist paramiltarys havent responed to any of these bomb attacks by republican terror gangs thank goodness ....this is about republicans wanting to kill policemen and wreck the peace process.

Its time the police dealt with these few fantics and got them off the streets and behind bars...no one supports them only the mindless idiots who think they really are fighting a just war.

The Catholic community must play their part in bring about the end of these so called republican dissidents.





[edit on 3-8-2010 by The_Coo]

reply to post by The_Coo


You make it sound as though its an easy task, wether loyalist or republican, the point is if this escalates we can expect worse than ever before IMO. As for the police solving these problems......well.....going by past history i seriously doubt it.

reply to post by The_Coo


It was not an IRA bomb.

It was an Oglaigh Na hEireann bomb.

The majority of catholic/republican people here do not support Oglaigh Na hEireann. The majority of catholics/ republicans here support SinnFein who are a differnt group entirely, as SinnFein want peace.

You are right tho, those who are intent on causing more bloodshed should be locked up. They should listen to what the majority of the people here want, and that is peace.

reply to post by The_Coo


Actually the loyalists had better weapons kindly pilfered from british army armouries not to mention those kindly donated by government agencies, incuding the best weapon of all... Inteligence...

I did not say that loyalists have responded to the recent spate of bombings.. Thank gGod!... However I DO know that there are a few out there who would like too... These acts just give the old school violent morons on both sides an excuse if they carry on.. It will take both sides to continue to vilify these acts and encourge the communities that have started to open up to feel obligated to help the proper authorities to stamp this out for good.

The people have suffered too much and come to far to let these scum win.. NI needs peace and stability.. Once delivered I cant wait to see the people of Northern Ireland start to reach their enomous potential.
I can only guess what a people who can make arms and ammunition from scratch and gice the best army in the world the runnaround for 30 years are capable of!

[edit on 3-8-2010 by Yissachar1]

[edit on 3-8-2010 by Yissachar1]

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha


Truly is a shame that this took place, but these people did call in the bomb.
Maybe they wanted to express their anger and not hurt people in the same hit.
This is just a sign of the times, when people feel powerless against the authorities they will find a way to empower themselves.
I predict this to become more commonplace and not just in Ireland.
As you seem to already be awake I will just say be careful and keep your wits about you.

Cant beat a bit of Jimmy

Spiro

Let's hope Derry can go the way of Liverpool with the award! (Not the same one but similar) I have been here for few years and it has brought great pride to the people of Liverpool, and tourism has increased dramatically, and most importantly government funding.

Unfortunately these splinter groups are always going to exist in Northern Ireland. You get your ex-IRA higher ups who haven't liked the change to political progress, who indoctrinate vulnerable young men into believing violence is an approriate method of achieving their goals. The young men are told tales about the glory days and how great it is to be part of a cause. Murdering psychopaths from all walks of life find banners and flags to hide behind, to carry out their desires.

I suspect if this carries on there will be attacks on the English mainland. What baffles me is how poor the intelligence agencies have performed in face of this new threat. For example a bomb was planted outside MI5 headquarters in Belfast by the Real IRA.

reply to post by g146541


You're probably right. The idea of calling in bombs is to create a 'legitimate' target anywhere. The idea is that you plant a bomb in a civilian area, call it in, then security personnel have to deal with it. As it would be in most cases too difficult to plant a viable device close to a military base or police station.

As long as security forces continue to treat each threat as potentially lethal civilian casulties should be minimal. As we have seen in Northern Ireland over the past two years, there have been many hoxes and duds, yet the police still treat them as serious.

reply to post by Big Raging Loner



Yeah Liverpool really benefited from being named the European city of culture. I really hope the minority of mindless, bitter eejits here do not spoil Derry's chances of having at least some of the success that Liverpool had.

Its up to the good people here to stick together and try and stamp out the old ways of violence.

We'll be discussing this on the ATSEuro show tomorrow night, so if any of you guys have Skype, and want to call in, U2U me and we'll sort it out

reply to post by Lady_Tuatha

Sorry to hear that you were so close to the explosion. It must have been very frightening.

The perpetrators (im not even going to attempt to spell the name of their group) must know that what they have done will do nothing to further their supposed political aims.

So what is the motivation behind these people? I would speculate that they get their kicks from causing chaos and committing violent acts. Its thuggery, using politics as an excuse to carry out their unsavoury acts.

But the general public can see this, be they Republican or Loyalist, and it will not be tolerated.