Loyalists attack Carnlough
by Catherine O'Hagan
The Loyalist death squads campaign against Catholics on
the North Antrim Coast peaked last week when on Friday
27 March, they left a bomb on the White Hill Road in
Carnlough.
The RUC only blocked the road at lunchtime despite
making calls to local shopkeepers before 9.30am warning
them of the suspect device. It then took 11 hours for
the crown forces to move in to examine the device.
It has since emerged that a commercial explosive,
possibly powergel, was used in the bomb. Local people
say this latest attack could be linked to an explosion
in the nearby village of Glenarm when in December a man
lost an arm. While attempting to bomb the house of a
woman whose brother was acquitted of killing a
Protestant man, leading loyalist Richard Hastings lost
his arm.
Before the Glenarm explosion the local quarry held
supplies of explosives on site and the RUC ferried in
detonators when required. Since the December attack the
explosives are not kept on site but are again brought
in by the RUC when needed.
Sinn Fein Six County Chairperson Gerry O hEara said,
``It has transpired that the device contained commercial
explosives and a commercial detonator of a type
previously used by `mainstream' loyalist groups.'' He
asked if Ronnie Flanagan would identify the culprits
and said Flanagan's response to the recent killing of a
drug dealing top UDA man that led to the expulsion of
Sinn Fein from the talks was, ``a knee-jerk assessment
reserved for use against republicans.''
Meanwhile Loyalist death threats in North Antrim are
escalating. In the last month, five Catholics from the
coastal area have received threats.
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