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'Continuity Army Council' suspected in Moira
bomb 20 October, 1998
Seven RUC members and four civilians
received minor
injuries when a bomb devastated the
RUC police base in
the village of Moira, County Down
tonight. A warning
had been received and the area had
been cleared.
The Continuity Army Council, a small
new Republican
paramilitary group opposed to the
ceasefire, is thought
to have carried out the attack. The
group formed in 1996
has previously carried out bombings
timed for maximum
political impact in an open bid to
destroy the northern
peace process. It is allied
to a splinter political
[party, Republican Sinn Fein], which
broke away from
Sinn Fein in 1986.
Tonight's attack comes within hours
of Sinn Fein's
suspension from peace talks by the
Irish and British
governments. The decision to exclude
the party until
March 9 followed British accusations
that the IRA were
behind two shootings last week.
An IRA statement had
insisted that its cesssation of military
operations was
intact.
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams today
described the
decision to expel his party as "disgraceful",
"undemocratic" and "a step backwards",
but appealed for
peaceful and disciplined protest against
the exclusion.
No disturbances were reported tonight
prior to the
Moira explosion.
The 500lb bomb which badly damaged
the village strongly
resembles the bombing of an RUC base
at Markethill in
County Armagh, carried out on the
first day of the present
phase of peace talks in October of
last year. The CAC
most recently planted a similar car
bomb at nearby
Banbridge in County Down, but their
device was defused
by British Army experts.
Unionists have quickly blamed the
IRA for tonight's
explosion, althoough no organisation
has yet claimed
responsibility for the bomb.
The CAC typically make a
claim some 48 hours following an attack.
Let's give our boyos in the CAC a big round of applause for another
Markethill. I knew they wouldn't let us down.
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