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Dissidents blamed for bomb March 14: Northern Ireland police and politicians blamed renegade republicans trying to disrupt the peace process for a large bomb left outside the law courts in Belfast city centre on Wednesday night. The dissident Real IRA last night claimed it was behind the bomb in a call to a Belfast TV station with a recognised code word.

Timelines

The struggle for peace - January-March 2003 Chronology: A comprehensive summary of key events in Northern Ireland, with links to Guardian articles. September-December 2002 September 2001-August 2002 2000-September 2001 1999-2000

The road to decommissioning

The Omagh bombing

Mainland bombings

Stormont elections

Stormont elections delayed in hope of devolution deal March 5: Tony Blair announced last night that the Northern Ireland Assembly election, scheduled for May 1, would be postponed until May 29 to allow the parties more time to reach agreement on how to restore devolution.

Peace process

Pressure on IRA after Blair claims breakthrough March 6: Northern Ireland's leaders have about six weeks to resolve the row over sanctions and persuade the IRA to end its operations if they are to strike a deal before campaigning starts for the May elections.

IRA must disarm, insist unionists March 4: Premiers draft deal aimed at restoring Ulster devolution.

Progressing the peace March 3, leader: Hillsborough summit will be a hard climb.

Talks attempt to resurrect peace process March 3: Belfast's Hillsborough Castle plays host to Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern today, as the two leaders begin vital talks to salvage the floundering Good Friday agreement. Ireland correspondent Rosie Cowan examines the key issues. 26.02.03: The loyalist call for peace rings hollow 24.02.03: Blair set to 'radically' scale back troops 22.02.03: Threat to Catholic police recruits 13.02.03: Ahern and Blair push Sinn Fein to prove IRA is winding up 02.02.03: US to rejoin peace process 24.01.03: Memories of 1921 24.01.03: 'Imaginative gesture' predicted by Adams 24.01.03, audio: Gerry Adams on the peace process (57s) 24.01.03, audio: Gerry Adams on making the first move (33s)

Real IRA

Bomb disposal experts foil Belfast attack March 13: Three masked men kidnapped a white van owner from his home last night, loaded his vehicle with explosives and made him drive it to Belfast's new multi-million pounds courts complex.

Relatives of Real IRA boss plan to sue US informer February 23: The family of Michael McKevitt are to sue the American informer scheduled to give evidence in court against the Real IRA's founder.

Life in Northern Ireland

'I have no regrets' March 13: Thirty years ago Marian Price was sentenced to life for her part in the IRA's bomb attacks on London. Now, with the Provisionals believed to be on the brink of a historic move to disarm, she tells Rosie Cowan why she still believes violence can be justified.

Shorts to lose 1,180 workers March 6: Belfast suffered a severe blow to its economy yesterday when Shorts, the aerospace company, said a further 1,180 jobs could be axed in the next year.

Giant shipbuilder cut down to size March 2: They built the Titanic and launched some of the world's largest ships. But Harland and Wolff, the Belfast company synonymous with shipbuilding, has officially become a small business.

Parties and a bloody past make Belfast the undergrads' choice February 23: Ulster among 10 most popular destinations for British students.

Sober mayor bans 'lustful' charity ball February 23: Dancing has been declared evil on Northern Ireland's gold coast. One of the Reverend Ian Paisley's followers has banned a charity civic ball because he believes that anyone taking to the dance floor is committing a sin.

Disarmament

IRA poised to 'end operations' March 3: Hopes were rising last night that the IRA is poised to carry out its biggest act of disarmament yet as Tony Blair and the Irish prime minister, Bertie Ahern, flew to Northern Ireland for crucial talks today.

IRA arms destruction must be filmed, Unionists insist March 2: A comprehensive peace deal in Northern Ireland hinges on whether or not the IRA is prepared to allow cameras to film it destroying weapons and explosives.

Cautious welcome as loyalist group dumps pipebombs February 21: Politicians gave a cautious welcome yesterday to news that loyalist paramilitaries had alerted the authorities before dumping pipebombs for defusing and calling on members to get rid of other stockpiles of explosives.

Gerry Adams

Adams accused over hotel bomb February 15: A unionist MP yesterday accused the government and police of a cover-up over failure to investigate claims that Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams planned and authorised one of the most horrific crimes of Northern Ireland's troubles.

Johnny 'Mad Dog' Adair

Tourists prowl Adair's former fortress March 2: The Lower Shankill is slowly shaking off the legacy of the jailed loyalist chief but his legend survives, reports Henry McDonald.

One killing too many for Mad Dog Adair February 9: His family have fled Belfast, his paramilitary empire has gone and his future has become bleak. Henry McDonald charts the real reasons for the swift decline of Johnny Adair. 08.02.03: Fleeing loyalists vow to return 07.02.03: And then there was just one left. Mad Dog's dog, Rebel 04.02.03: Too many chiefs led to loyalist bloodshed 03.02.03: Loyalists on brink of war as UDA chief is shot dead 12.01.03: Adair's arrest won't end feud 11.01.03: 'Mad Dog' Adair sent back to jail

IRA and Colombian rebels

Court told Irish trio gave bomb class to guerrillas February 8: Testifying in the trial of three alleged IRA members accused of training Marxist guerrillas, a former guerrilla yesterday said he saw three foreign men teaching explosives techniques to Colombian insurgents two years ago. 06.02.03: Trial of IRA suspects resumes

Audio

Thousands attend loyalist paramilitary leader's funeral February 6: The killing of Ulster Defence Association brigadier John Gregg, whose funeral took place today, may put an end to the bloody feuding among loyalist paramilitaries, reports Rosie Cowan in Belfast. (2min 41s) How to listen to our audio reports More audio reports

Derry

Row over plan to turn Londonderry into Derry January 30: Unionists are furious with nationalist councillors who have voted to change its name from Londonderry back to Derry after 362 years. 29.01.03: Historic city name battle reaches London

BBC bomb trial

Jurors shown footage of BBC bomb blast January 25: The jury in the trial of three Real IRA suspects was yesterday shown dramatic footage of the bomb exploding outside the BBC television centre in Shepherd's Bush, west London.

Omagh

Secrets of Omagh February 20, Nick Hopkins: Vindication of a damning report on police handling of the 1998 bombing leaves key questions unanswered. 19.02.03: Omagh suspect charged over IRA membership 11.02.03: Omagh families force Adams into the dock 24.01.03: Police abandon legal challenge to report on Omagh inquiry 06.11.02: Children 'used as cover for Omagh bombers' 26.10.02: Irish police accused on Omagh 26.10.02: 'I knew he wasn't going to stop bomb' Main points of the Omagh report Map: where the Omagh bomb hit Timeline: the Omagh bombing

Gay priests

Belfast 'has 30 more gay priests' February 2: Up to 30 more Catholic priests in Greater Belfast are 'active on the gay scene', a rebel cleric claimed last night.

SDLP/Fianna Fail merger

SDLP adviser calls for merger with Fianna Fail January 19: A leading figure in the SDLP has called for a merger with Fianna Fail.

Privacy

Snoopers can target civil servants January 12: Politicians now have the right to pry into the personal lives and political opinions of tens of thousands of public sector employees across the UK - without the workers even knowing about it.

Unionists

Brigadier may face Ulster murder charges February 14: A British army brigadier and up to 20 other serving and retired soldiers and police officers could be prosecuted for allegedly conspiring with loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland, it emerged yesterday. 07.01.03: DUP could become official voice of unionism after poll

Finucane murder inquiry

Stevens sees key witness January 13: Detectives investigating alleged security force collusion in the murder of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane have questioned the British army brigadier who headed the military intelligence force research unit in Northern Ireland at the time. 10.01.03: 'Crucial evidence' withheld in Finucane case

Violence

Blast on eve of crunch talks February 11: The Continuity IRA last night claimed responsibility for a bomb in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. 23.01.03: 'Dynamite text found on suspect's phone' 13.01.03: Toddler shot in alleged domestic row 10.01.03: 'Mad dog' Adair back behind bars 09.01.03: 'Mad Dog' Adair survives bomb attack on home 04.01.03: Loyalist war fears after new murder

David Trimble

Trimble calls on IRA to disband January 2: The Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, today put the official disbanding of the IRA on to the negotiating table as condition for the resumption of the Northern Ireland assembly. 19.11.02: Trimble remarks stir anger

Public Record Office

Ulster crisis prompted plan to divide and move communities January 1: Edward Heath's government contemplated repartitioning Northern Ireland by forcibly removing Catholic and Protestant families from their homes and physically separating the two communities. 01.01.03: Adams, young man of peace

A united Ireland

Damned statistics December 22, Henry McDonald: The 2001 census offered little comfort to Catholics or Protestants. 20.12.02: Census hits republican hopes 20.12.02: Secret memo on IRA sparks Trimble walkout 19.12.02: Trimble walks out of talks 17.12.02: Protestants 'should have veto on united Ireland'

Comment and analysis

Nearly the real deal March 6, leader: Northern Ireland is close to agreement.

Clarity not terror March 2, Henry McDonald: Let the public see what these former terrorist groups actually do.

The myths of time February 23, Henry McDonald: Our perilous preoccupation with the past. 09.02.03, Ruaridh Nicoll: Hamstrung by history 02.02.03, Gerry Kelly: This fatal obsession 19.01.03, Tom Kelly: Two parties, one dream 05.01.03, Henry McDonald: So close to cataclysm 18.12.02, Niall Stanage: The chutzpah of David Trimble

Your letters

Faceless paramilitaries February 25: While your leader correctly advises caution regarding the UDA's latest attempt at reinvention, it is worth pointing out that the statement it released refers to a "period of military inactivity".

Police

Belfast special branch chief claims MI5 had him ousted January 14: The former head of Belfast special branch claimed yesterday that he had been under pressure from MI5 not to arrest those suspected of spying for the IRA because the political fallout would damage the peace process. 12.01.03: Loyalist killer admits to being RUC informer 09.12.02: Anti-bias rule hits Ulster police intake 06.12.02: Row erupts over police chief's exit in Belfast

IRA

Mary Kelly misses dinner with friends of terrorists February 2: Mark Kelly - the peace campaigner who allegedly damaged a US Navy aircraft at Shannon Airport - was the absent guest of honour last night at a dinner organised by supporters of the Continuity IRA.

UDA

UDA peace moves February 24: Ulster deadline concentrates minds. 23.02.03: Caution as UDA calls ceasefire

From the Guardian archive

'The whole thing is so terrible, so stupid, so foolish, so senseless' August 17 1999: Stuart Millar and Henry McDonald on how terrorists brought death to an ordinary Saturday afternoon. 16.08.98: Ulster carnage as bomb blast targets shoppers 16.08.98: Sinn Fein breaks with past to condemn 'disgusting' act

11.08.01: Stormont assembly put on ice August 11 2001: Sinn Fein fury at 'bow to Unionist pressure' 12.02.00: Ulster goes back to direct rule 03.12.99: Hand of history touches Ulster

Widgery clears the army but blames some soldiers April 20 1972: According to Lord Widgery, the facts of "Bloody Sunday" - when 13 civilians were shot dead in Londonderry - vindicate the army's operation in principle but imply serious criticism of the judgement with which some soldiers carried out their orders.

Key players

Bloody background to loyalist feud September 28: Profiles of the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

A week in east Belfast

Neighbours caught up in low key war November 4: Different sides, similar experiences: what records written for the Guardian by two residents reveal about a week in east Belfast. One week of sectarianism The Catholic The Protestant

Best journalism from elsewhere on the web

The weblog Weblog special: The best reads on Bloody Sunday, the Omagh bombing investigation, the peace process and the history of conflict. The weblog

World news guide

Northern Ireland Guardian Unlimited's guide to the best news sources on the web. World news guide: Ireland World news guide Useful links

Interactive guides

People, history and politics in Northern Ireland You will need Macromedia Flash to view these guides. If you don't have it, download it here free. How the troubles began Drumcree and the marching season

Bloody Sunday

The Bloody Sunday inquiry Full coverage: All the latest news, comment, analysis, audio reports and interactive guides. Plus the Guardian Unlimited archive.

Rosie Cowan, Ireland correspondent

Friday March 14, 2003

The Guardian

The dissident Real IRA last night claimed it was behind a large bomb left

outside the law courts in Belfast city centre on Wednesday night.

The device, three pipe bombs attached to 75 litres of petrol and a timer,

was made safe by army experts in a controlled explosion. Senior police

officers said it was unstable and could have gone off at any time.

Three masked men hijacked a van in north Belfast and forced its driver to

take the device to the courts. The man then reported it to police. The

attempted attack, which was condemned by politicians on all sides, took

place as the Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble, and the Sinn Fein

president, Gerry Adams, prepared to meet President George Bush at the White

House for St Patrick's Day.

They are trying to reach an agreement to re-establish the devolved

government at Stormont. Mr Trimble will not return to power-sharing with

Sinn Fein unless the Provisional IRA decommissions its weapons. The

breakaway Real IRA and Continuity IRA are trying to put pressure on

mainstream republicans by increasing violence. The glass-fronted court house

was opened by the Queen last month.

· Keith Rogers, 24, gunned down in Cullaville, south Armagh, on Wednesday,

was a member of the IRA, the leadership admitted last night.

Mr Rogers, of a prominent republican family, died after being hit in the

chest during a fight at a petrol station. Two other men were wounded. Police

on both sides of the Irish border are bracing themselves for reprisal

shootings.

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PREVIOUS NEWS

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Real IRA suspect charged

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 Posted: 12:34 PM EST (1734 GMT)

DUBLIN, Republic of Ireland -- A man arrested in connection with the

investigation into the Real IRA bombing at Omagh has been charged with

membership of an illegal organisation.

Seamus Daly, 32, was charged at Dublin's Special Criminal Court with

membership of an organisation styling itself as the IRA.

Daly was arrested at his home in Kilmurray, County Monaghan by the Garda,

the Irish police, under a warrant from the court.

He was detained overnight at Carrickmacross Garda station before being taken

to Dublin on Wednesday for his court appearance.

Sergeant David Forde told the Special Criminal Court that when he issued the

warrant Daly ripped it up and another had to be produced.

Daly, wearing jeans, folded his arms as he was charged with membership of an

illegal organisation between April 29, 1998 and November 20, 2000.

He was remanded in custody to reappear at the court next Tuesday, when an

application for bail will be made. No trial date has been set.

Twenty-nine people died and more than 200 were injured in the 1998 bomb

attack on the County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, town in the bloodiest single

atrocity in the 30 years of Northern Ireland's conflict, known as "the

Troubles."

The only person jailed in connection with the bombing so far is Colm Murphy,

who is serving a 14-year sentence for conspiracy to cause the bombing.

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Woman arrested over Real IRA bombs

January 18, 2002 Posted: 6:47 AM EST (1147 GMT)

The Omagh bombing was Northern Ireland's worst terrorist attack

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A woman has been arrested in north London on

charges of terrorism linked to a bombing campaign by the Real IRA, an Irish

nationalist splinter group opposed to the Northern Ireland peace process.

The 35-year-old woman was arrested on Friday morning and was being

questioned at a central London police station. Police would not discuss her

nationality or say which bombing incident she is believed to have

participated in.

The woman was charged under the Terrorism Act of 2000, which allows police

to hold suspects without charging them for long periods of time.

The Real IRA claimed responsibility for planting a car bomb in the centre of

Omagh, in Northern Ireland in August 1998 that killed 29 people including a

woman pregnant with twins and wounded more than 200.

The group had split from the main Irish Republican Army earlier that year to

oppose the decision by the IRA's political allies Sinn Fein to support the

Northern Ireland peace process and work to end 30 years of fighting in

Northern Ireland. This culminated in the Good Friday peace accord of April

1998.

Two men face trial in May in connection with a series of bomb attacks blamed

on the Real IRA in London and Birmingham.

Six people were arrested late last year in an investigation of dissident

Irish Republican terror groups.

The Real IRA said they planted the bomb in Omagh

No one in Northern Ireland has yet been charged in connection with the Omagh

atrocity. One man is currently being tried in the Irish Republic on charges

of conspiracy to cause an explosion. A verdict is not expected until Tuesday

at the earliest.

An independent report released in December into the Omagh car bombing

accused police chiefs of bungling the investigation.

The report by Nuala O'Loan, who as police ombudsman investigates complaints,

also said Northern Irish police under Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan

had failed to act on tips warning that an attack was imminent and that Omagh

was a possible target.

Flanagan said the findings were a "desperate attempt" to justify an

"erroneous conclusion reached in advance."

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U.S. outlaws Real IRA

May 16, 2001 Posted: 12:27 PM EDT (1627 GMT)

Devastation in Omagh caused by a car bomb that killed 29 people

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States has outlawed a dissident republican

group believed to have carried out Northern Ireland's worst recent bombing

atrocity.

The State Department announced on Wednesday that it had designated the Real

IRA as a foreign terrorist organisation.

The Real IRA split from the mainstream Irish Republican Army in 1997 and is

believed to be behind the August 1998 car bomb attack in Omagh that killed

29 people.

As a result of the designation, many activities, including fundraising, of

the Real IRA or its two so-called "front groups" or "political pressure

groups" -- the "32 County Sovereignty Movement" and the "Irish Republican

Prisoner Welfare Association" -- will be illegal.

The move freezes the group's U.S. assets, making it unlawful to provide

funds or other material support to the Real IRA, while representatives and

certain members could be denied visas or excluded from the U.S.

A senior State Department official says this is the first time a group with

"heavy ties" to the U.S. -- with "sympathisers and supporters" coming from

the U.S. -- has been designated as a terrorist organisation. But the

"British and Irish government publicly asked us to look into this."

Other designated FTOs include the Abu Nidal group, the Abu Sayyaf group and

the Palestine Liberation Front.

The move against the Real IRA came as British authorities feared an upsurge

in terrorist activity in mainland Britain ahead of the general election.

The group has been blamed for several recent bombings in London, including a

massive blast at the BBC's London television studios in which one bystander

was injured.

Unlike the IRA, which is under ceasefire and consequently not banned by the

U.S., the Real IRA opposes the 1998 Good Friday Agreement on which the

current peace process is based.

However, republican political party Sinn Fein -- the IRA's political arm --

says a ban will be counter-productive.

A Sinn Fein spokesman told CNN: "The U.S. is one of the mainstays of the

Northern Ireland peace process and will no doubt continue to be so under

President Bush, but it should concentrate on showing dissident republicans

that the way forward is through politics.

"This kind of legislation has never stopped groups before, and outlawing an

organisation could risk making it more attractive to young people."

Victor Barker, whose son James was among those killed in the Omagh

explosion, told the Press Association news agency: "They are being banned

because they are a terrorist organisation. Remember, they kill little

children," he said.

The FTO designation came as the Irish Republic prepared to prosecute the

Real IRA's alleged leader, Michael McKevitt.

He is charged with "directing terrorism" under a law that was enacted two

weeks after the Omagh bombing. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison

if convicted.

Earlier on Wednesday, a failed mortar bomb attack on a British Army base in

Northern Ireland, close to the Irish border, was suspected by security

sources as probably being the work of the Real IRA. No one was hurt in the

latest attack.

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Real IRA blamed for BBC blast

The bomb spread debris over a wide area

March 4, 2001

LONDON, England -- A dissident Irish Republican terror group is suspected of

planting a bomb that exploded outside the British Broadcasting Corporation's

main office.

One London Underground worker suffered minor injuries in the attack,

believed to be the work of the real IRA, said Deputy Assistant Commissioner

Alan Fry, the head of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorism Branch.

The large device went off as experts tried to carry out a controlled

explosion on a suspicious taxi, causing minimal damage to BBC Television

Centre in Shepherd's Bush, west London, but spreading debris over a wide

area.

Fry said two coded warnings were issued to a London hospital and an unnamed

charity before the blast, giving the same codeword as when a device was

planted on the railway line at Acton, west London, last year.

BBC duty news editor Laurie Margolis, who saw the explosion, said he was

amazed by the force of the blast.

"I have seen things going off in Beirut, Northern Ireland and Yugoslavia,"

he said.

"We knew from the police activity something was going to happen, but the

actual force of the explosion was very substantial. It was a fireball that

seemed to fill the whole road between BBC TV Centre and White City Tube

station."

He added: "What is left of my car is outside the office. I haven't seen it,

but I'm not too optimistic."

Fry said a dissident Irish republican group was believed to be responsible

"and that is where we are commencing this investigation."

Asked whether he suspected the Real IRA, he said: "That would be my

expectation."

He said the explosion would represent an escalation of the group's terror

campaign on mainland Britain.

"We have been predicting, since Christmas, that the mainland, and London in

particular, were to be subject to terrorist attacks. This was one of those

attacks. I can only fear that we will see more."

The main Irish Republican Army (IRA) is on ceasefire following the landmark

1998 Good Friday peace accord with the British authorities, but the Real

IRA, formed by a group of breakaway dissidents in 1997, has opposed the

agreement all along.

The Real IRA's name was seared on the public consciousness in 1998 when it

claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack that killed 29 civilians in the

Northern Irish town of Omagh.

Authorities on both sides of the Irish Sea believe the group has an "active

service unit" in London that staged attacks on the rail track and a bridge

last summer and a missile attack on the headquarters of the British

government's external intelligence agency in September.

Last month a 14-year-old boy lost a hand and was left blinded by a torch

bomb at a Territorial Army centre near the site of the latest blast.

Irish dissident groups were being considered as possible suspects in that

case and at the time Scotland Yard said it could not rule out the

possibility of more bomb attacks.