Rocket strikes Derry PSNI base

The PSNI have vowed to further increase their fortifications in the North after republican armed group Oglaigh na hEireann (ONH) launched a mortar rocket attack on a PSNI barracks in Derry in Friday.

While the rocket fired, it did not detonate and damage to the base was limited.

However, the PSNI are understood to be concerned that the breakaway IRA group have now perfected their rocket-launching techniques.

The device was fired through the rear window of a Vauxhall Cavalier, which had been parked close to the rear of the PSNI base.

lt failed to explode when it hit the station’s perimeter wall.

In October, British forces in the North had warned that dissident mortar attacks were ‘imminent’.

In the months that followed, there were attempts to fire mortars in Armagh city last October and Keady in February.

Less than 48 hours earlier, a British military mouthpiece, the ‘Independent Monitoring Commission’, said former members of the Provisional IRA were sharing their bomb-making expertise with the breakaway groups, and that cooperation between the groups was at an “all-time hlgh”.

British forces are now said to be concerned that millions may have to be spent reinstalling mortar-proof security fencing to protect vulnerable bases.

INCREASED ACTIVITY

One of the north’s busiest roads for almost 36 hours during a security alert on Thursday.

The main road from Dungannon to Ballygawley was closed following a warning that a device had been abandoned.

There were also a number of pipe-bomb incidents at the weekend.

One such device was found in an upstairs area of the Celtic Bar at Stanley’s Walk in Derry. A British Army unit removed the device.

The ‘Real IRA’ claimed responsibIlIty for a pipe-bomb attack on a house in Dungannon, County Tyrone, at the weekend.

The device was thrown through the window of a house in Windmill Court on the BaIlygawley Road estate. It is believed the attack was a response to anti-social activity in the area.

A pipe bomb partially exploded, damaging the Sinn Fein office in Castlewellan, County Down in the early hours of Friday morning. It is unclear who was responsible for the device.

Sinn Fein Assembly member for south Down, Caitriona Ruane, condemned the incident and said it was an attack on the party and the local community who use the office.

Urgent Appeal