Northern Ireland

Paramilitaries have used riots as cover to shoot in the past

Armed police were deployed in Creggan after Lyra McKee was murdered on Thursday night. Photograph by Niall Carson/PA Wire.
Armed police were deployed in Creggan after Lyra McKee was murdered on Thursday night. Photograph by Niall Carson/PA Wire. Armed police were deployed in Creggan after Lyra McKee was murdered on Thursday night. Photograph by Niall Carson/PA Wire.

THE use of riots as cover to open fire on police is not a new tactic among republicans.

It was widely used by the IRA in the 1970s, so much so that security forces knew that if a riot eased, they should brace themselves for live gunfire. So common was the tactic that news journalists knew not to stand close to police or security forces in riot situations in case they were hit - as Lyra McKee was - by the incoming fire.

Dissident republicans have embraced many of the tactics used the IRA. In July last year, violent clashes around the annual July 12 loyal order marches were used as cover to shoot at police.

In a replica attack on July 11, police said shots were fired from the Bogside at officers on Derry's walls. PSNI chief inspector, Neil Beck said around 16 petrol bombs had been thrown from the Bogside into the Fountain.

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Mr Beck said: "We believe that around six shots were fired striking the walls and nearby trees."

In a further echo of IRA Troubles-tactics in January, the New IRA returned to the use of car bombs when the planted a major device outside Derry's courthouse. A number of young people narrowly escaped death when they walked past the vehicle shortly before it exploded.

The car bomb tactic has been used a number of times by the New IRA, including in a major attack on the PSNI Derry headquarters at Strand Road in 2010.

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The New IRA does not have the same levels of support which enabled the Provisionals to carry out a sustained campaign. This is evident in the numbers of people who normally attend commemorations and other events organised by dissidents.

The dissidents appear, rather, to have adopted the guerrilla-war tactic of `shoot and scoot', staging attacks and then blending back into their communities. Dissident paramilitary organisations appear content to maintain a low-level presence while staging occasional high-profile attacks which attract major headlines but usually – with some exceptions - do not result in injury. That tactic went tragically wrong in Derry on Thursday night and journalist, Lyra McKee lost her life.

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