Real IRA admits car bomb at MI5 Northern Ireland base

12 April 2012

Security chiefs in Northern Ireland were today braced for the risk of further attacks after the Real IRA claimed responsibility for a car bomb explosion outside MI5's Ulster headquarters.

An elderly man who was walking nearby suffered minor injuries in the blast at Palace Barracks in Holywood, County Down, at 12.24am — minutes after policing and justice powers were devolved from Westminster to the Stormont Assembly. A taxi driver was forced to drive the bomb to the base.

It is the latest in a series of attacks by dissident republicans over the past 18 months, including the fatal shooting of two British soldiers in Co Antrim last year and another car bombing outside Newry courthouse in February.

Both Northern Ireland's First Minister, Peter Robinson, and his deputy, Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness, today insisted that the peace process remained on track.

Security sources said, however, that a handful of experienced former republican terrorists had returned to violence and more attacks were likely.

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