THE PSNI fears that a “substantial” 500lb bomb that was defused in Newry at the weekend may have been intended for a town centre in Northern Ireland.
Police said the bomb, similar in size to the 1998 Real IRA bomb in Omagh that claimed the lives of 29 people including a woman pregnant with twins, could have caused “huge devastation”.
The bomb was discovered in an abandoned van at an underpass in Newry on the main Belfast to Dublin road and was made safe by a British army bomb disposal squad after three days of road and rail disruption. The road was finally reopened on Saturday morning.
Police believe the suspected dissident bombers may have been forced to abandon the bomb that was contained in a wheelie bin because of a security operation taking place in the Newry area at the time. The abandoned blue Ford transit van was stolen in Maynooth, Co Kildare, in January and carried false Donegal registration plates.
Chief Supt Alasdair Robinson said the exact target was unclear but that the dissident republican plan may have been to attack a town centre or landmark building.
“What we do know is that we had a police operation in place that evening, so it is our belief that the van was being moved to another location, but it was thwarted by the police operation at the time,” he said.
He said the bomb was “sophisticated and substantial” and could have caused “huge devastation and loss of life”.
On Friday hundreds of motorists, including foreign tourists, unwittingly drove past the bomb after some motorists took away cones that cordoned off the van. This happened when police were not at the scene, the PSNI admitted. Chief Supt Robinson said that even when police were present, one motorist still attempted to drive through and had to be stopped by officers.
The size of the bomb – more than twice the size of the 220lb bombs used by dissidents in two attacks in Derry last year – will cause security concern and raise questions about whether dissidents are planning more major attacks on cities and towns in Northern Ireland.
In 1998 prior to the Omagh bombing the Real IRA carried out attacks in towns such as Banbridge, Moira and Portadown. Such was the revulsion after Omagh that for a period the dissidents virtually suspended such activity but in the past two years they have been again stepping up their real and hoax bombing campaigns. Just last month a “viable” 100lb bomb was defused outside the courthouse in Derry.
DUP Policing Board member Jonathan Bell said that had the Newry bomb exploded, the “consequences are almost too horrible to contemplate”.
The outgoing Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Newry and Armagh, Danny Kennedy, said: “As if last week’s cowardly murder of Constable Ronan Kerr isn’t enough, it is clear that the madmen responsible for leaving this bomb outside Newry have learned nothing from the 1998 Omagh tragedy when mass murder was committed by leaving a bomb in a busy town centre on a Saturday afternoon.
“What if this bomb outside Newry had exploded as a bus-load of schoolchildren was passing? The consequences are unthinkable and apologies after the event are utterly worthless.”
