Attempted Real IRA bombing of the Giro d'Italia in Dublin...?

EireGun

Huge bomb found as Giro d'Italia party hits town

ANTI-terrorist detectives seized a massive car bomb in Dublin which was primed and ready to be detonated.

The car containing the milk churn bomb was discovered by gardai in the car park of the Finnstown Country House hotel in Lucan, Co Dublin.

Sources revealed that it contained 50lb of explosives made from fertiliser, and was armed and ready for use with a timer attached.

While the intended target remained unclear, the bomb was seized just hours before the culmination of the high profile Giro d'Italia.

The cycling race brought hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of Dublin yesterday, and the event is broadcast to 125 million households worldwide.

"This was a deadly, full-size bomb which had been wired up and ready for imminent use. If it had gone off it would have caused total devastation," a source said.

The Irish Independent understands that dissident republicans are suspected of transporting the device from Belfast to Dublin in recent days. It is believed the device was going to be moved from the Lucan car park to its intended target.

Security sources say that the device, made safe by an Army Bomb Squad, would have caused carnage if it had exploded. It is understood that it was fitted with a Timer Power Unit, a hallmark of all major IRA bombs. Also known as a "safe to arm" switch, the TPU can be set to detonate at a given time, which can range from a few hours to several days or even months after it is set.

It is understood that a Dublin man who was later arrested has close links to the Real IRA.

The man is from the inner city and was an associate of murdered RIRA boss Alan Ryan. Gardai located the device after receiving a tip-off, and a major security operation was launched.

Hundreds of guests – many of whom had been attending a wedding – were left stranded outside the luxury Finnstown Country House Hotel overnight after the massive bomb was discovered in the car park.

The alarm was raised at about 8.40pm on Saturday night in a 999 call to gardai. Gardai and the army's Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit arrived a short time afterwards and ordered that the hotel be evacuated at around 10.30pm.

The guests were forced to remain outside the premises until after the viable device was declared safe at 3.45am yesterday. It was found in a car with a Northern Ireland registration plate in one of the car parks on the premises of the 18th century hotel.

A man in his 50s was arrested later yesterday and was detained at Lucan garda station under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act, 1939. He can be detained for up to 72 hours.

Hotel general manager Gavin Creaton confirmed there was a "full house" at the time the alarm was raised.

Mr Creaton said: "We became aware of the device sometime after 10pm on Saturday night. We co-operated fully with the gardai and had the entire hotel evacuated while the authorities dealt with the situation."

A security source revealed that dissident Republicans may have been planning an attack, in the hope that it would be blamed on another terrorist group.

"It cannot be ruled out that it may have been intended to disrupt the Giro d'Italia race. This would be a very dramatic escalation in the activities of dissident republicans," he added.

Paul Williams, Brian Byrne (Irish Independent)

Car bomb is a wake-up call for all in the Government

THE discovery of a car bomb is a chilling reminder of the ever-present dangers posed by dissident republican terrorists.

The device, containing 50 pounds of homemade explosives, was found in Lucan by gardai acting on intelligence. It was primed and ready for use.

A similar bomb was found two years ago hidden in the Phoenix Park. It contained 45 pounds of explosives with a kill range of 150 metres.

The main question now is what the terrorists intended doing with this devastating weapon.

News of the find was kept quiet by gardai yesterday, as it coincided with the arrival of the Giro d'Italia in Dublin.

But the initial belief by reliable security sources was that the bomb may have been intended for use in the city to attract maximum world attention.

If it was the case, then it is indeed a chilling development. Such an outrage would seriously damage the country's reputation 16 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Fortunately, the garda's anti-terrorist squad, the Special Detective Unit, has enjoyed considerable success in thwarting dissident terror gangs.

But if the current underlying lack of morale and resources bedevilling the Garda continues, then the terrorists may enjoy a greater level of success.

An escalation of dissident republican activities would have dire consequences for everyone living on this island.

Paul Williams, Irish Independent

delthedriver

Evil scumbags!




























Congratulations to An Garda Siochana in preventing the unimaginable happen.

fits

Holy crap are they intent on ruining everything?

Little CuChulainn

Whoever gives info to Williams should be found and thrown out of the force. It's a real bad reflection on AGS.

donvito99

I can't believe this other for the fact that there was a cross-border element to the race.

They're just desperate to remain relevant and Paul Williams (and his sources) will give them what they want.

kub

Paul Williams.....is why i steer clear of that publication, dramatics at it finest. I know we are not exactly dealing with normal individuals here but why would a so called republican organisation blow up a bomb in Dublin?

Is it to remind people of Sinn Fein's back ground leading into the elections?

Klunk001

Well other News agencies ( IT, BBC, UTV ) noted the device was not primed. In all likelyhood with the success AGS has had at intercerpting previous devices and discovering bomb factories along the border. This was probably being pick up in Dublin to be transported North. All to further someone`s cause

I take a lot of these articles with a pinch of salt. The same paper mentioned during one of the attemps on a leading criminals life that a" 'luger" was used, only to tell us a few days later that now it was a "cz" of some sort. Make it up as they go along.

Putin

Why would dissidents want to bomb a non-British/Loyalist target? Total nonsensical/losing the plot reporting.

My name is URL

Little CuChulainn wrote: »

Whoever gives info to Williams should be found and thrown out of the force. It's a real bad reflection on AGS.

Williams seeks out opinions and 'insights' that reinforce and support his own agenda and by extension, career. Doesn't matter if 'sources' are Gardai or not.

He's an utter scumbag as far as I'm concerned. Imagine the damage his original article has done to the country. He stated as fact that the target was the Giro d'Italia, and there were many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that assume it to be true.

The depressing fact is that there exists enough Irish people that want to believe that everything he says is true, and they feed the fires by buying into it all.

kub

My name is URL wrote: »

Williams seeks out opinions and 'insights' that reinforce and support his own agenda and by extension, career. Doesn't matter if 'sources' are Gardai or not.

He's an utter scumbag as far as I'm concerned. Imagine the damage his original article has done to the country. He stated as fact that the target was the Giro d'Italia, and there were many hundreds of thousands of people worldwide that assume it to be true.

The depressing fact is that there exists enough Irish people that want to believe that everything he says is true, and they feed the fires by buying into it all.

He must be getting desperate for drama items now or else at last he is being proved as being the bulls****** that he always was.
He might become the reason that the likes of the proposed rugby world cup might stay clear of this country.

Dermot Illogical

My name is URL wrote: »

Williams seeks out opinions and 'insights' that reinforce and support his own agenda and by extension, career. Doesn't matter if 'sources' are Gardai or not.

Indeed, but some of them are gardai. They should be found and dismissed at the least.

flazio

Whatever the intent, can we please not lose sight of the fact that a potentially horrific bombing was foiled by the great work of An Garda Siochanna.

Nozebleed

I wonder....there,s an election soon...sinn fein quite popular at the moment.