| Dissident Irish republican campaign | ||||||||
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Political map of Ireland |
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| Belligerents | ||||||||
| Security forces:
Her Majesty's Armed Forces |
Republican paramilitaries: | Loyalist paramilitaries: |
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| Casualties and losses | ||||||||
| British Army 2 PSNI 2 |
RIRA 3 CIRA 1 |
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Since 1997, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army called a ceasefire and ended its armed campaign, Irish republican paramilitaries opposed to the ceasefire ("dissident republicans") have continued an armed campaign against the British security forces. The main paramilitaries involved are the Real IRA and Continuity IRA, which both split from the Provisional IRA. Their campaign began at the end of The Troubles, a 30-year period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland that spilled over at various times into the Republic of Ireland, England and mainland Europe. The Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998 is generally seen as marking the end of The Troubles. Like the Provisional IRA, the main loyalist paramilitaries have also been on ceasefire since the end of The Troubles. However, small-scale violence has been continued by dissident (anti-ceasefire) loyalists too, partly as a reaction to the dissident republican campaign.
The campaign is of much lower intensity than The Troubles, which resulted in over 3,500 deaths. To date, two British Army soldiers and three Northern Ireland policemen have been killed as part of the campaign. Over 30 civilians have also been killed, most of whom died in the Omagh bombing.
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Since the 1169 invasion of Ireland by Norman knights at the request of ousted King of Leinster Dermot MacMurrough, Ireland has, in part or in whole, been under English, and later British, administration. Rebellions against rule from Great Britain were unsuccessful until 1919–1921's Anglo-Irish War, when the original Irish Republican Army (IRA) succeeded in removing 26 of Ireland's 32 traditional counties from the United Kingdom as the Irish Free State. The remaining remaining six counties, located in the province of Ulster, however, became Northern Ireland and remained a part of the renamed United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
A civil war followed in the new southern state, and the IRA split for the first time, into the Irish National Army—the war's victor, which became the army of the Free State—and the Anti-Treaty IRA, which was opposed to the treaty that had partitioned Ireland into two states.
The IRA ceased to be a significant force following its defeat in the Civil War, and it wasn't until a further split, into the Official IRA and Provisional IRA (PIRA) following the 1969 Northern Ireland riots, that a group calling itself the Irish Republican Army—this time the Provisionals—would again come to prove a significant military force. As a belligerent in what would come to be known as The Troubles, the PIRA waged an armed campaign against the British state that lasted until 1997 and claimed around 1800 lives.
The PIRA called an indefinite ceasefire in 1997 and decommissioned its arms in 2005, but a number of hardline splinter groups, known as dissident republicans, have vowed to continue using "armed struggle" to achieve the republican aim of a united Ireland.
The first dissident grouping to carry out attacks in Northern Ireland were the Continuity IRA, when they carried out a bomb attack in Enniskillen in 1994, although it had existed since 1986 it did not begin attacks until after the first Provisional IRA ceasefire of 1994. The CIRA carried out a number of attacks over the next 3 years before the Provisionals called their second ceasefire, notably these attacks included a 1,200 lb car bomb outside a hotel in County Fermanagh and a number of other car bombings. After the Real IRA split from the Provisionals it quickly became active and carried out a number of attacks, the first being an unsuccessful car bombing attempt in January 1998. Both groups carried out a number of attacks throughout 1998 in an attempt to destabilise the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
On 15 August 1998 the RIRA left a car containing 500 lb of home-made explosives in the centre of Omagh, County Tyrone. The bombers could not find a parking space near the intended target of the courthouse, and the car was left 400 metres away. As a result three inaccurate telephone warnings were issued, and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) believed the bomb was actually located outside the courthouse. They attempted to establish a security cordon to keep civilians clear of the area, which inadvertently pushed people closer to the actual location of the bomb. Shortly after, the bomb exploded killing 29 people and injuring 220 others, in what became the deadliest attack in The Troubles inside Northern Ireland.
The bombing caused a major outcry throughout the world, and the Irish and British governments introduced new legislation in an attempt to destroy the organisation. The RIRA also came under pressure from the Provisional IRA, when Provisional IRA members visited the homes of 60 people connected with the RIRA and ordered them to disband and stop interfering with Provisional IRA arms dumps. With the organisation under intense pressure, the RIRA called a ceasefire on 8 September.
The RIRA used the ceasefire to regroup and procure more arms for their campaign. Meanwhile the CIRA continued its attacks and carried out a number of attacks. However there was a lull in dissident activity after the outcry from the Omagh bombing. The RIRA returned to its campaign in January of the year 2000, declaring in a statement sent to the Irish News, "Once again, Óglaigh na hÉireann declares the right of the Irish people to the ownership of Ireland. We call on all volunteers loyal to the Irish Republic to unite to uphold the Republic and establish a permanent national parliament representative of all the people." The next month it attempted to bomb an army barracks, however the bombers were disturbed before the device was assembled. As well as attacking the security forces the dissidents have taken over the traditional republican responsibility of punishing criminals on their 'territory' through punishment attacks, these can range from a warning, to a punishment beating, to shooting the victim (kneecapping), and in some cases, killing them, or forcing them to leave the country.
The RIRA have also been responsible for a number of bomb attacks in England, most notably the 4 March 2001 BBC bombing and the 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing, as well as launching an RPG-22 rocket at MI6 headquarters in London in 2000.
Since that time, tensions have resulted in a number of splinter groups from both organisations. These have included two CIRA splinter groups, Óglaigh na hÉireann, which is now inactive and ceased all activity in 2009, and Saoirse na hÉireann. A Real IRA splinter group, also calling itself Óglaigh na hÉireann, has grown to become the most active and dangerous group in Northern Ireland.
The first fatalities suffered by the security forces since the end of the Troubles occurred in the 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting, when the Real IRA shot dead two British soldiers, and injured four others, including two soldiers and two civilians. Within a week a Continuity IRA sniper shot dead a PSNI officer responding to a distress call. In January 2010, the Real IRA killed convicted Drug Dealer Gerard Staunton in Cork City, and warned that it would kill others involved in the drugs trade. Earlier in January 2010, Óglaigh na hÉireann carried out a booby trap bomb attack on a PSNI officer, leaving him seriously injured and his leg having to be amputated. In April, 2011, another PSNI officer was killed, this time by a booby trap bomb that was attached to his car.
On 20 June 2011, the UVF invaded the nationalist area of the Short Strand and began attacking nationalist homes, the men were dressed in balaclavas and full camouflage gear. Republicans opened fire, shooting two loyalists in the legs. Riots continued for hours, and a nationalist resident of the short strand was seriously injured when a breezeblock was dropped on his head by loyalists. A second night of rioting followed, with a press photographer being shot in the leg by republicans. See 2011 Belfast riots.