Late last week, New Irish Republican Army (IRA) hardliners detonated a car bomb outside a courthouse in Londonderry. According to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, no one was hurt in the bombing, which came amid ongoing Brexit talks.
The UK's MI5 intelligence agency has deployed more than 700 spies in Belfast as part of a massive anti-terrorist operation in the area; it comes amid concerns that the so-called New Irish Republican Army (IRA) may capitalise on the possible return of a hard Irish border after Brexit so as to fuel a fresh conflict, the Daily Mail reports.
The newspaper cited Brian Kenna, a former IRA prisoner and chairman of the Revolutionary Republican Party Saoradh, as saying that “Britain still rules the six counties of [Northern] Ireland and this is going to lead to renewed conflict”.
Northern Ireland's Parties to Impact Irish Hard Border, Not Hard Brexit — Prof
In this vein, Kenna was echoed by Patrick Carty, one of Saoradh's leaders, who specifically singled out Brexit's potential, which he warned may “break up the British state”.
“With the inevitable infrastructure of a hard border imminent, this will drive home to the Irish people the partition of our country […] and as history teaches us, it will inevitably stoke the fires of resistance against British rule in Ireland”, Carty said earlier this month.
MI5's focus on New IRA comes after the group's hardliners staged a car bomb blast outside a…
