TWO MEN, aged 37 and 17, were being questioned by detectives last night about the murder of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
The arrests follow a meeting yesterday at Stormont Castle where Martin McGuinness, Peter Robinson and Sir Hugh Orde presented a united front in calling for action against dissident republicans.
The PSNI conducted search operations yesterday close to Lismore Manor in Craigavon where Constable Carroll was murdered on Monday night. Police are due to step up investigations today to try to apprehend the Continuity IRA members who gunned down the 48-year-old constable.
The police are understood to be following a definite line of inquiry and are making progress in their investigation into Saturday night’s Real IRA murders of two unarmed British soldiers at Massereene British army base in Antrim.
The threat of further dissident republican attacks remains high, the PSNI, Garda and intelligence services believe. MI5 is strengthening its intelligence-gathering operations to try to gain information that would assist the PSNI in combating the dissidents. “MI5 is reinforcing its operations against these groups,” said a senior British counter-terrorism source last night.
Police suspect the Craigavon shooting was not simply an opportunistic ambush. Constable Carroll was shot as he and two other officers were providing back-up for neighbourhood watch officers dealing with a case of malicious damage to a woman’s home in the Lismore Manor estate.
Detectives suspect the window of the woman’s home was deliberately smashed so police could be lured into the ambush. There was a history of anti-social behaviour in the vicinity.
Constable Carroll, a grandfather and father who had previously resided for a period in Co Kildare, lived in Banbridge in Co Down. He was just two years from retirement.
His wife, Kate, told the Belfast Telegraph, “A good husband has been taken away from me and my life has been destroyed. And what for? A piece of land that my husband is only going to get six feet of. These people have just taken my life as well.”
DUP First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness together visited the home of Mrs Carroll in Banbridge yesterday. Earlier at Stormont Castle they presented a strong united front by joining Sir Hugh Orde to condemn the murder and call for public support in tracking down the killers.
Mr McGuinness said he “had a responsibility to lead from the front” and he would lead from the front in urging people with information to give it to the police. He described the dissident republicans as “traitors to the island of Ireland”.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown spoke by phone last night to review the security situation on both sides of the Border.
A Government statement said the two “reaffirmed their joint commitment to supporting the peace process” and to ensuring maximum co-operation. It added: “Both men are hugely encouraged by the solidarity and leadership shown by all the parties in Northern Ireland in recent difficult days.”
At Hillsborough Castle, after a meeting with Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said everything that needed to be done would be done to safeguard life and peace.
Security south of the Border has been increased following the murders. Assistant Commissioner Mick Feehan, who is in charge of the Garda’s northern region, has instructed chief superintendents to put in place additional checkpoints and patrols along the Border. There are no plans to withdraw what gardaí called a “handful” of Garda members working on secondments with the PSNI as part of an exchange programme between the forces.
The Dáil will today debate a motion condemning the murders.