Police in Northern Ireland disrupt plan for terror attack to overshadow President Joe Biden’s visit this week amid fresh warnings of violence
- Biden will arrive in Belfast, Northern Ireland, at the start of the journey on Tuesday
- Local media reported that dissident Republicans from the New IRA were planning an attack
- However, a search is believed to have disrupted the plot to overshadow the visit
A dissident Republican terror group in Northern Ireland has plotted a major attack to overshadow President Joe Biden’s visit to the region this week, according to local reports.
The president will land in Belfast on Tuesday in a major security operation.
Officials recently upped the security warning from ‘severe’ to ‘substantial’ as the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom prepare for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of violence known as ‘the Troubles’ ‘.
However, dissident terror groups opposed to the peace deal have stepped up their activities in recent weeks.
Against that backdrop, Northern Ireland Police reportedly carried out house searches in the city of Derry, one of the focal points of violence during the Troubles.
President Joe Biden will arrive in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on Tuesday night amid heightened warnings of terror attacks despite a 25-year-old peace deal
A republican mural on a side wall of Saoradh offices in central Derry, Northern Ireland in May earlier this year. The group is close to dissident Republicans
An insider told the Belfast Telegraph that the British Army Bomb Disposal Service was on site last weekend.
“They were looking for parts to make a bomb,” the source says.
“The belief is that the New IRA planned some kind of attack to coincide with Biden’s visit, similar to the mortar attack on police in Strabane last November.”
The New IRA was formed about a decade ago from a merger of other dissident republican groups working for a united Ireland.
Two police officers were injured in last year’s attack in Strabane, Co. Tyrone.
The renewed violence is a reminder that Biden is arriving in a divided Ireland. Although most paramilitary groups laid down their arms and embraced a new political system during the Good Friday Agreement, a small minority continued to wage war.
Northern Ireland’s largest police operation in a decade is underway to protect Biden. Some officers will work 12-hour shifts so they can fill front-line roles.
Biden is expected to participate in birthday celebration events on Wednesday before crossing the border into the Republic of Ireland.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force had received ‘strong’ intelligence that dissidents plan to carry out terror attacks against officers over the holiday
Biden arrived in County Mayo in 2016 on his last official visit to Ireland. The then Vice President spent six days in the country visiting Dublin, Mayo and Louth
It comes one day after another flashpoint, Easter Monday. It is a time when Republicans, who believe in a united Ireland, celebrate the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule with parades.
Last week, PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force had received “strong” intelligence that dissidents plan to carry out terror attacks against officers on the bank holiday.
And it comes after MI5 recently raised the threat level for terrorism in Northern Ireland to severe, meaning an attack is highly likely. This followed the gun attack in Co Tyrone on Senior Detective John Caldwell, who suffered life-changing injuries. Police have blamed the New IRA for the attack.
Biden himself has downplayed the fear.
The Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence. This archive photo shows the aftermath of a car bomb detonated by the IRA in London in 1973. But dissident Republicans have ramped up attacks on police in recent weeks and there is high security ahead of Biden’s visit.
When DailyMail.com recently asked if the heightened warning would interfere with his travel plans, he said, “No, they can’t keep me out of it.”
He will follow Belfast with a visit to Co. Louth, from where his ancestors left for America in the mid-19th century.
Then it’s on to the capital, Dublin, where he will address the Irish Parliament before heading to Ballina, Co. on Friday. Mayo, travels to visit distant relatives.
There he will deliver a major speech to an audience expected to number 20,000.