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2010 Newry car bombing

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Coordinates:54°10′47″N6°20′06″W/ 54.1797°N 6.3351°W/54.1797; -6.3351
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2010 Newry car bombing
Part of thedissident Irish republican campaign
LocationNewry,County Down,Northern Ireland,United Kingdom
Date22 February 2010
20:53[citation needed](UTC)
Attack type
Car bomb
Deaths0
Injured0

The2010Newry car bombingoccurred on the night of 22 February 2010. Itexplodedoutside acourthouseinNewry,County Down,Northern Ireland,damaging the building and others in the area. There were no fatalities or injuries.

Bombing[edit]

Thecar bombinghappened on the evening of 22 February 2010. Seventeen minutes before it exploded, a telephone warning was received saying it was in the centre of Newry and would go off in half an hour. Thepoliceevacuatedpeople from their homes and the town centre. The car was aMazda 6loaded with 115 kg[1]ofexplosives.The car exploded next to the gates of the courthouse. The bomb was felt and heard from two miles away. The blast damaged the courthouse and other buildings in the area.[2][3]A 170-year-old church had its windows blown out;[4]three people were inside the church when the bomb exploded, but they were uninjured.[5]The bombers phoned in a warning that police should clear the area because a bomb would go off in 30 minutes, in fact it went off in 17 minutes.[2]Because of the size of the bomb, the police termed it a "sheer miracle" that no one was injured.[2]

According to theBBC,it is thought that this was the first "large car bomb" to have exploded in Northern Ireland since the 2000 bombing of the Stewartstownpolice station.[2]Other car bombs have failed to explode, or have only partially exploded.[2]

The bombing is thought to have been an attempt to undo the 2010Hillsborough Castle Agreement,although the fact that it came two weeks after the Agreement was signed is thought to reflect themilitants' limited operational capacity.[2]

According toFachtna Murphy,Commissionerof theGarda Síochána,this was "the first bomb that exploded in the North in 10 or 11 years."[6]

A warning call was made prior to the explosion, no one was hurt in the attack, several buildings were damaged, and arrests were made, including that of a man suspected of driving the taxi used to transport the bomb. Local residents and politicians expressed shock and anger over the attack.[7]

Aftermath[edit]

The next day the area was sealed off as police investigated. Shops were closed and traffic backed up on the motorway between Newry andBelfast.[2]The large explosion caused "traffic chaos" across the city.[8]

The church was reopened in February 2011, after£350,000 of repairs and restoration.[9]

Arrests[edit]

TheReal Irish Republican Armywas blamed for the bombing in Newry. On 27 May, a 32-year-old man was arrested for the bombing. A day before that a 51-year-old man appeared in the same courtchargedwith the car bombing.[10]

A 45-year-old man was jailed in 2017 for being a member of theIRA,because ofDNA evidencehe left on the car bomb.[11]

Responses and impact[edit]

Hillary Clinton,theUnited States Secretary of State,condemned the bombing but insisted that it would "not destabilise thepeace process".[2]

The Newry car bombing is taken as evidence that "hardlineRepublicans"continue to have the ability to carry outterror attacksin Northern Ireland,[12]although they no longer have the operational strength to do so in Britain itself.[13][14]The Newry car bombing was one of several cross-border attacks into Northern Ireland in 2009–10.[13]Others included a car bombing of theNorthern Ireland Policing Board.[15]There are fears that theterroristswill be able to use these "successful" bombings to recruit.[12][16]

The operational strength ofdissident republicangroups as demonstrated by this bombing continues to concernIrish security forcesas of September 2010. According to Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy, "A bomb exploded in Newry some months ago and that's the first bomb that exploded in the North since Omagh. That is significant in itself in that it tells us they are endeavouring to improve their capability all the time."[17]

Politically, the attack was alleged by theBelfast Telegraphto have led some loyalists "to believe the older leadership called it wrong—that they decommissioned far too soon."[18]

Writing in theBoston Globe,Kevin Cullencited the Newry court bombing as evidence not only of the continued existence of an "irredentistrump ", but of the continuation of a social situation in which the two groups are still" bitterly divided "and" deeplysegregated."[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^Bowcott, Owen (2010)."Newry court bombing: government denies complacency".The Guardian.
  2. ^abcdefgh"Sheer miracle" that Newry court bomb did not kill,[1],BBC News, 2010
  3. ^Arnold, Adam,Appeal After Car Bombing Outside NI Court,[2],Sky News, 2010.
  4. ^Church damaged in city bomb blast,[3],BBC News, 2010
  5. ^"Dissidents 'sent warning' before car bomb exploded outside Northern Ireland court," 24 February 2010, Brisbane Times, Brisbane, Australia.
  6. ^"Dissident threat growing – Ahern,"Coner Laly, 3 October 2010, Irish Times.
  7. ^"Timeline: Violence still stalks streets of Northern Ireland".Reuters.12 April 2010.Retrieved7 March2023.
  8. ^"Dissidents are 'aiming to murder'"5 April 2010, Belfast Today.
  9. ^"Newry congregation 'overjoyed' as bombed church rises again".BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.21 February 2011.Retrieved26 March2019.
  10. ^"Second arrest over Newry courthouse bomb – Local & National, News".Belfasttelegraph.co.uk. 27 May 2010.Retrieved29 July2010.
  11. ^"Dissident linked to car bomb attack on Newry court jailed".The Irish Times.16 January 2017.Retrieved26 March2019.
  12. ^ab"Analysis: Deadly copycat campaign right out of IRA’s manual,"Brian Rowan, 23 April 2010, Belfast Telegraph.
  13. ^ab"Gardaí say dissidents no threat to Britain,"Cormac O’Keeffe, 18 September 2010, Irish Examiner.
  14. ^"Murphy says attack on Britain 'a strong possibility'"BBC, 28 September 2010.
  15. ^Dissident republicans blamed for 400lb bomb after Christmas 'spectacular' threatThe Times,23 November 2009.
  16. ^"Dissident threat level increases,"Vincent Kearney, 22 April 2010, BBC.
  17. ^Garda chief warns of threat posed by republicansConor Lally, 29 September 2010, Irish Times.
  18. ^"Dissident attacks provoke growing loyalist unrest,"15 April 2010,Belfast Telegraph.
  19. ^A segregated peace – Is this how Northern Ireland was supposed to turn out?Kevin Cullen, 14 March 2010,The Boston Globe.

External links[edit]

54°10′47″N6°20′06″W/ 54.1797°N 6.3351°W/54.1797; -6.3351

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