By planting a bomb in a Strabane cemetery and causing massive disruption and distress to local people, dissident republicans have shown they have no respect for anyone, living or dead.
Residents in their eighties were among those forced to leave their homes in the middle of the night after a mortar-type device was found in the graveyard in the Townsend Street/ Cemetery Road area of the Co Tyrone town on Saturday.
The bombers have been rightly condemned for defiling the sanctity of a graveyard, with one local resident pointing out that throughout the Troubles this was a place that had never been touched.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with people who care nothing for the safety of anyone who might have been visiting the grave of a relative or for the trauma they might cause the ill and elderly who would have to be evacuated from the comfort and security of their own homes.
If the dissidents are trying to persuade people of the merits of their cause then even they must realise this type of activity is unlikely to gain them much support.
Thankfully, this device was found and made safe but this attack underlines the threat posed by these individuals and the need for police and the public to remain vigilant.
This discovery comes two weeks after a despicable attempt was made to murder PSNI officers in Lurgan in an elaborate bomb trap.
The Strabane mortar find also came a day after Dundalk man Gareth Mulley was sentenced to ten years in jail for possessing a large dissident car bomb in Co Louth in May last year.
With members in prison, bomb operations foiled and a complete absence of public support, this is a campaign of violence which is going nowhere and should stop now.
