Germany charges IRA suspect over bomb attack

An alleged IRA member has been charged in Germany on suspicion of involvement in a mortar attack on a British army base in 1996…

An alleged IRA member has been charged in Germany on suspicion of involvement in a mortar attack on a British army base in 1996.

Mr Michael Dickson (38) was arrested last December in Prague airport after arriving from Dublin. He was detained on foot of an international arrest warrant issued by a German court.

He was extradited to Germany in April and questioned about the attack on the Osnabrueck base on June 28th, 1996. The compound, known as "Quebec Barracks", is Britain's largest military compound in Germany. There were no injuries in the attack.

Mr Dickson, a former British Army engineer from Strathclyde in Scotland, once served at Osnabrueck. He is now a naturalised Irish citizen.

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The German state prosecutor's office said today he was charged with being part of a five-man IRA active service unit suspected of operating on the European mainland. He is alleged to have been involved in firing three home-made mortars at the base.

Mr Dickson denies all charges, claiming he was in Prague as a tourist. No date was set for his trial.

The PSNI want to question Mr Dickson over the 1996 IRA bombing of an army barracks in Lisburn, Co Down, in which one officer was killed.

British police want to speak to him over the attempted murder of former IRA informer Martin McGartland on Tyneside in 1999.