Car bomb explodes near Northern Ireland army base

Car bomb explodes near Northern Ireland army base

news.bbc.co.uk

A car bomb has exploded near an Army base in Holywood, County Down, forcing the evacuation of several homes.

Police and the fire service are at the scene, outside Palace Barracks in the Northern Irish town.

Local people say they heard a large bang just after midnight. There are no reports so far of any injuries.

The blast seems to have been timed to coincide with the precise moment that policing and justice powers devolved from Westminster to Stormont.

In March, Northern Ireland Assembly members voted in favour of the transfer.

Out of the 105 votes cast in the Assembly, a total of 88 supported the move, with 17 Ulster Unionists voting against.

Disagreement on the timing of the devolution of the justice powers had threatened to collapse Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 11/4/10 by Discotech]

I sincerely hope it's not an IRA attack

After so many years of ceasefire and what seemed like peace we now get this out of the blue.

There's alot of tweeting going on about the blast as well but very little information thus far on the MSM in UK, Sky & BBC both have it as breaking news but not alot more information than. The only good news so far is it appears noone has been injured.

I will update this thread as I hear more on the news about this breaking and upsetting news!

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

[EDIT]Updated the original article as more news has come in. Apparantly it's a car bomb which is very depressing, seems like the IRA are making a come back now the control has gone from Westminster to Stormont and I seriously this is a one off out of the blue attack because of the timing, expect more trouble again N.I. now

[edit on 11/4/10 by Discotech]

Been waiting for news to pop up on this, I first heard reports of a bombing pop up about an hour ago on a certain website I frequent.

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Blocked any cuss words.


[edit on 4/11/2010 by ben420]

reply to post by ben420


The thing is, I can't see why the IRA would start attacks again on the day they've finally got their semi-independance. Unless it's not IRA and it's merely been made to look like it's the IRA to try and destablise the nation and get English involvement again ?

Apparantly the bomb was taken in a hijacked taxi and the taxi drivers family were held hostage according to sky news!

Why would the IRA do this after staying peaceful so long? Are there factions within the IRA that would like to derail peace?

reply to post by InvisibleAlbatross


IRA is what everyone will think first based on the history but like I said, what if it's just made to look like the IRA when it's actually another organisation which will benefit by destabilising the area again ?

reply to post by Discotech


Yeah, I guess that could very well be true. I just did not want to bring up the tired "false flag" label.

This is terrible news indeed. Belfast is my favourite place in the UK.
The first thought that pops into mind is the RealIRA.

But as you say if today was the day they got there semi independance why?

Could it be the UDF, UDA or one of the other protestant militias are unhappy with the status quo?

It seems there is a lot of destabilsation going on
Poland,South Africa,Thailand,The Koreas,Russia,Krygistan.

It won't be the IRA, it'll be a splinter group. The IRA haven't committed an attack in over 10 years (if not more) and decommissioned a couple of years ago.

Anyone with even an ounce of knowledge of NI politics should be aware of this. Saying "everyone will think IRA" is not true. Hardly anyone will.

It'll be some small dissident group (be they Unionist or Republican) just trying to rock the boat, just as they did last year when they shot the poor squaddies who went to get a pizza delivery.

Oh, Discotech, whats this about "English" involvement? Branding all the bad guys as English instead of referring to the UK? Oh, those evil english, going round taking other peoples countries over....

[edit on 11/4/10 by stumason]

I did see this thread the other day Will Derry ever be safe

The OP mentions some other group in the same sentence as the RealIRA and he does state that a fresh round of threats was made.

I admit I never did and never will properly understand Northern Irish politics. I hope i'm not too far off or out of line when I say it seem neither do a lot of the citizens of Northern Ireland.

This is bad none the less. A warmer bunch of people I have not found in the UK and as always it takes only one small group of crazies to set the whole thing off all over again.

My thoughts are with Belfast tonight

reply to post by stumason


I'm English myself and by saying English involvement I'm refering to the cluster # of a government we have in westminster, there's the possibility it's just a ruse by higher ups who still have dreams of an empire and want to keep their grubby hands in the affairs of Northern Ireland

reply to post by Discotech


Saying "English" though is just displaying not only a gross simplification of the UK, it's insulting, because it was stated in a derogatory way and implied the English are out to "control" someone else, which is so far from the truth.

I assume, of course, that you are aware that those Protestants in NI are actually of largely Scottish descent?

I also assume you know that the British (see, NOT English) Army went in to protect Catholics from Protestant violence, but only had the Catholics turn on them.

And finally, of course you are aware that not only English serve in the Army. Many Scots, welsh, irish and others from around the Commonwealth serve in the Armed Forces.

As for claims of a "false flag"..Not likely. Westminster can dissolve the Assembly at any time without the need of a false flag. Seeing as there is a history of splinter groups trying to derail the process, it seems this is just more of the same.

[edit on 11/4/10 by stumason]

Update: News this morning is the Real IRA are claiming responsibility for the Bombing..

I am not surprised one bit.

the anglo american empire was behind the bombs in russia. Do you people get it.

Take the hint.

Also i am not surprised too, as the irish are still being treated horrendously in england. Its the worst minority to be in england to be irish.

I am not surprised, the english are still destroying lifes eleswhere, so this starts again.

I've just posted a time line on my thread... it seems we posted the same story at the same time.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

I'll copy it here.

Car bomb explodes near Northern Ireland army base

How very curious.

Dissident republicans have been blamed for the attack? Are they serious?

These are the very people, we are told, that want a united Ireland.

It makes no sense what so ever for these people to be planting a bomb outside the HQ of MI5 in Northern Ireland.

The article also says that "a warning was given". When the IRA were bombing the mainland, the warnings were always coded, and given to the police. This was ALWAYS reported. Now it is simply "a warning was given"... by whom, and to whom? Was it coded?

In the day and age where you cannot blink without being caught on CCTV here in the islands of Great Britain, it is unbelieveable that a taxi was hijacked, and parked outside the MI5 HQ without it being on CCTV. Perhaps we will get single frames in order to "identify" a mystery object labelled "taxi" just as we have in the past (Pentacon, London, etc.)

It is unbelievable that "a warning was given" without it being recorded. It would make perfect sense for this recording to be played over the news service in order to help illicit an identification from the public, one of which might know who this is...

Too many questions. Far too many.

Any comments?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)


Another question: The timeline....

The taxi was hijacked at 21:50 BST.

The driver was held hostage by three men, according to the article, for about two hours.

This takes us to 23:50. Presumably it was during these two hours when the bomb was placed in the taxi

The driver is then told to drive the taxi to the barracks.

There is no mention of whether or not these three men were still in the car. Although, if the radio report I have just heard on BBC Radio 2 is to be believed then the men simply threatened the taxi driver and told him to take the car to the army barracks or his family would be harmed.

The taxi is hijacked about 7 miles from the base, and it is then driven to the Holywood barracks. Now assuming that there are a few junctions and traffic lights to go through, I am estimating a journey time of fifteen to twenty minutes.

This now takes us to 00:05/00:10 BST.

Which makes one wonder how it is that security services could begin evacuating the area before midnight.

Another thing that hasn't been reported, is that the taxi driver would be held for questioning, to help with enquiries... there's no mention of this in the report.

The bomb went off at about 00:20 BST. This means we have a window of just ten minutes when security staff were alerted and started to evacuate the area.

Now, I'm assuming 2-3 minutes for the driver to alert a soldier/security on the base, and a further 2-3 minutes for the alaram to be raised and people to mobilise and evacuate....

Questions, questions, questions.


[copied from my thread on the same topic]

[edit on 12-4-2010 by dampnickers]

reply to post by dampnickers


What ?

How is 01:38 (time of originally posting the thread) the same time as 08:27 (time you posted yours) ?

Although thanks for posting the further info here as well

reply to post by Discotech


According to the time stamp on my computer they're the same... but it doesn't really matter.

There are certainly a good number of unanswered questions here.

So many that I am seriously contemplating jumping on a plane to Northern Ireland, and conducting my own enquiries....

It is beginning to really annoy me that the news doesn't report actual news any more. I know that actual reporting stopped a long time ago, but it is annoying nonetheless.

Originally posted by InvisibleAlbatross
Why would the IRA do this after staying peaceful so long? Are there factions within the IRA that would like to derail peace?

I am half irish, my family came from Rosscarbery were the IRA Founder Michael Collins came from and was formed.

The general irish, don't agree with the IRA in regards to bombings and killing people however they understand their qualms.
They aren't to bothered about "Northern Ireland" anymore however the links between both countries are becoming a bit stronger, it will come together without bombs.

It's not about relgion, I was born roman catholic and my wife born protestant, a lot of irish people have married English people, so the IRA dose not favour everyone's ideologies

Originally posted by andy1033
I am not surprised one bit.

And unfortunately neither am I at your presence here and your totally predictable anti-English post.

You do realise that you are losing what little credability you have left.

the anglo american empire was behind the bombs in russia. Do you people get it.

And what evidence do you have for this other than your bitter hatred for the English.

Also i am not surprised too, as the irish are still being treated horrendously in england. Its the worst minority to be in england to be irish.

As I have told you previously, my whole family are of Irish descent and we don't seem to have much problem integrating, and neither have countless other people of similar lineage.

And to be perfectly honest, I fail to understand why you remain in London given how shabbily the English have treat you.

I am not surprised, the english are still destroying lifes eleswhere, so this starts again.

This was a splinter group of Irish Nationalists carrying out a fairly primitive bomb attack in Northern Ireland.
It was not a false flag operation and has nothing to do with 'the evil English ne'er do well's' you incessantly rant about.

These rengade groups have very little support in Northern Ireland and The Republic and politicians from across the political and religous divide must unite and be resolute in their resistance to these gangsters and shysters.

Andy, stop your pathetic rants please.

[edit on 12/4/10 by Freeborn]