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Irish police have intercepted a significant car bomb near the Northern Ireland border during an investigation of dissident republicans
LONDON -- An “extremely significant” car bomb was intercepted earlier this week near the Northern Ireland border during an investigation of dissident republicans, Irish police said Friday.
A woman driver in her 20s was arrested Wednesday near Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and remained in custody Friday. A man in his 40s was later detained and continues to be held. Both were arrested on suspicion of offenses against the state.
An Irish military bomb disposal team was called to examine the car, though no details were provided on how they disposed of the ordnance.
“What we found was an extremely significant seizure,” Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said. "This was an explosive device.”
While it's unclear where the car was headed, there have been two car bomb incidents this year in Northern Ireland that police have blamed on dissident republicans, including one that exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast in April. No one was injured and an earlier attempted bombing at a police station was thwarted by officers who detonated the bomb in a controlled explosion.
The incidents are reminders of the decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and U.K. security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before the 1998 Good Friday peace accord.
“We certainly know that there are a small minority of dissident republicans who did not agree with the Good Friday Agreement, they did not put weapons and explosives (out of use),” Kelly said. “There’s a small minority of these individuals, I would describe them as radicalized republicans, and this is a threat that we’re going to continue to face for some time."
