Irish Republican News · October 29, 2004

Dissidents blamed for gun attack

Republican hardliners have been blamed for a gun attack on a County Antrim PSNI police base.

No-one was injured in the attack in Randalstown, in which four bullet marks were fired into the front gate of the station. There were a number of PSNI members inside at the time.

The gang are believed to have taken over a home nearby and stolen the family’s van for use in the attack.

Hardline unionist Ian Paisley jnr claimed yesterday that the attack had been an attempt to kidnap and murder a police officer. His party later said the incident required a reassessment of moves to scale down fortification of Crown forces bases in the area.

William Frazer of south Armagh anti-republican lobby group FAIR linked the attack to police board vice chairman Denis Bradley’s recent comments on policing.

Mr Bradley had said that nationalists might have to re-assess their involvement in policing if the current political stalemate continued.

Mr Frazer said the Randalstown attack was a “direct re-sult of the reprehensible comments made by Denis Bradley”.

“The statement he made was nothing more than an incitement for republican terrorist organisations to commit murder,” he declared.

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