ASSEMBLY MEMBERS have condemned dissident republican activity following two incidents in south Armagh over recent days, one of which involved the discovery of a viable 100lb bomb which at least one young boy had earlier touched.
A 33-year-old man was being questioned by PSNI detectives last night following a security operation in Cardinal Ó Fiaich Square in Crossmaglen yesterday.
The British army bomb squad was called out during that incident.
It also emerged yesterday that a bomb planted in a beer keg and discovered concealed in a hedge near Jonesborough in south Armagh on Saturday had been examined and touched by an inquisitive schoolboy.
The security operation may have been linked to the Jonesborough find.
In unusual circumstances, the Jonesborough bomb was discovered by the head of the victims’ group, Fair (Families Acting for Innocent Victims) William Frazer. He said he spotted the bomb after he slowed down his car for children playing on the road while he was approaching the village.
Some local Sinn Féin politicians complained that police were slow in dealing with the device but this was denied by PSNI Chief Supt Alan McCrum, who said police cordoned off the area as quickly as possible.
At least one young boy touched the bomb, according to local and security sources.
The night before the bomb was discovered a car was set alight near the bomb site, leading police to suspect that this was an attempt to lure police into the area in order to try to kill them.
Chief Supt McCrum said that the incidents in Jonesborough and Crossmaglen were “related to dissident activity”.
These incidents follow on warnings by PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde that dissident republicans were stepping up their activity and posed a serious threat. Dissidents are believed to be behind at least eight attempts to kill police officers in areas such as south Armagh, Derry, Dungannon, Fermanagh and Lisburn.
The Assembly yesterday endorsed a motion tabled by the Ulster Unionist Party that generally related to dissident activity.
An amendment tabled by the SDLP effectively endorsing the motion but also including loyalist violence was defeated.
Proposing the motion, UUP MLA Tom Elliott from Fermanagh said that such was the threat that the British army may be required to be called back on to the streets in certain areas in order to tackle dissident republicans.
