According to the intelligence assessment of the security services (MI5), the activity of republican dissidents has increased, including gun attacks on police officers.
MPs, Mr Heaton-Harris said: „The public should remain vigilant, but not be alarmed, and continue to report any concerns they have to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).”
The threat level for the rest of the UK remains at ‘substantial’, meaning an attack is considered ‘likely’. Every six months MI5 reviews the situation.
https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/1640677572567527430?s=20
Mr Caldwell was shot on 22 February in front of his young son as he put footballs into the boot of his car, after coaching a football training session in Omagh. He had been moved out of intensive care but still remains in critical condition in the hospital.
Three months prior to this attack, the New IRA had detonated a roadside bomb in Strabane, Co. Tyrone, as a police car drove past, but luckily none of the officers in the vehicle were injured.
The group was formed in 2012 with about 500 supporters, and a lot of them prepared to commit acts of terrorism. MI5 operations successfully reduced the terrorist threat level in Northern Ireland. But after a lull in activity, the New IRA re-emerged in November last year. Recent attacks showed that the organisation still remains dangerous.
The rising of the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland comes just a year after it was lowered for the first time in 12 years.
PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said the force would „relentlessly pursue those who seek to cause harm and terrorise our communities, and attack my officers and staff”.
https://twitter.com/PSNIDCSDistrict/status/1639919049281794048?s=20
„The government committed to help fund 7,500 officers in the PSNI but has not yet made good on that promise. With police officers facing such a threat, now is the time for the government to provide that additional funding to ensure the PSNI has the full capacity to meet this threat.” – said Jeffrey Donaldson, the Democratic Unionist party leader.
Sinn Féin’s Stormont leader, Michelle O’Neill added – „A quarter century on there is no place or space for paramilitary groups in a modern, democratic society. They must go.”
https://twitter.com/moneillsf/status/1640692632119648256?s=20
The UK has five terror threat levels, which are:
- Low – an attack is highly unlikely
- Moderate – an attack is possible but not likely
- Substantial – an attack is likely – this is the UK’s national threat level
- Severe – an attack is highly likely
- Critical – an attack is highly likely in the near future
The announcement comes against the backdrop of the 25th anniversary of signing the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which brought peace to the region after decades of violence.
Author: Patrycja Bodzek-Kurzyńska
Photo: policefed-ni.org
