PSNI detectives are to examine CCTV footage of the Real IRA attack on the British army base at Massereene to determine if it can assist in tracking down the gang who killed the two young English soldiers.
At Stormont yesterday, British prime minister Gordon Brown, Peter Robinson and Gerry Adams, in a strong show of political unity, insisted the killings would not be allowed to derail the political process.
It emerged yesterday that the security cameras captured Saturday night’s attack on the two unarmed soldiers who were gunned down as they accepted a pizza delivery at the base. Some 60 shots were fired in the 30-second attack.
Detectives are now examining the footage to see if there is enough detail to help them identify the masked Real IRA gunmen who shot dead the soldiers and also wounded two other soldiers and two pizza delivery men, one of whom, a Polish national, remains seriously ill in hospital. The injured soldiers and the local delivery man are described as stable in Antrim hospital.
Police are also hoping that forensic examination of a Vauxhall Cavalier car, which they believe may have been the Real IRA gang’s getaway vehicle, will help them identify who was involved in the attack.
The car was discovered abandoned at Ranaghan Road near Randalstown, Co Antrim, not long after the shooting. The car remained at the scene yesterday as police acted carefully in case it was booby-trapped.
The soldiers murdered in the shooting were Mark Quinsey (23) from Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar (21) from Wood Green, London. Members of the 38th engineering regiment, they had been due to fly out to serve in Afghanistan within hours of the attack.
Mr Brown visited the Massereene base yesterday where he met PSNI chief constable Sir Hugh Orde and Brig George Norton who described his soldiers as “magnificent individuals”.
Two other servicemen and two pizza delivery men were injured at the base’s gates during the 30-second onslaught.
Dissident republicans claimed responsibility but there was unanimous condemnation across the political divide of what was seen as an attempt to destabilise devolved political power-sharing institutions.
Officers are hoping the discovery of the gunmen’s getaway car may yield forensic evidence after attempts to set the vehicle alight failed.
The green Vauxhall Cavalier, found seven miles from the base and carrying the registration TDZ 7309, was bought two weeks ago.
Explosives experts checked the car before a closer examination is carried out.
Det Ch Supt Derek Williamson has said police were making progress.
“It is very much early days in the investigation but again I have to reiterate we need public support.”
The two young soldiers were the first to be murdered in Northern Ireland in 12 years since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was killed by an IRA sniper in 1997.