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| Middle East | |
| Israel questions alleged Irish bombmaker | |
| 2003-07-14 | |
Israel has arrested a suspected Irish bombmaker in the West Bank and is questioning him about the extent of his contact with Palestinian militants. British and Irish newspapers had reported earlier that a hunt was underway for a former Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombmaker suspected of training Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Israel has been on alert for attacks by foreigners acting on behalf of a 33-month-old Palestinian uprising since two British Muslims carried out a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv nightclub in April, killing three people. According to reports in London's Observer and Dublin's Sunday Independent, the suspect had been a member of the mainstream IRA guerrilla group but switched allegiances to the dissident Real IRA splinter group four years ago. The papers say he entered Israel on a British passport and slipped into the West Bank. Palestinian links with Northern Ireland stretch back to the early days of the three-decade conflict between Catholic republicans fighting to end British rule and Protestant loyalists committed to maintaining it.
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| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #3 The British media reported Monday that an Irish national arrested by Israel on suspicion of coming to teach Palestinian terrorists how to upgrade their explosives is a journalist and not a member of the Real IRA. Israeli security sources said that they had received a report of a possible case of mistaken identity Monday evening, and that they are investigating. The BBC identified the man as Sean O Muireagain, a reporter for the Irish-language newspaper "La," which is based in Belfast. A member of the paper's staff, Ciaran O Pronntaigh, told the BBC that Muireagain was "a well-known Irish language and Palestine Solidarity Committee activist in Belfast," who was reporting from the West Bank city of Jenin. Muireagain was arrested Saturday in Ramallah after Israel launched a manhunt for a suspected Real IRA terrorist, following a tip-off from the British security services. The BBC says he's a journalist, so it must be true. Right? |
| Posted by: Steve 2003-7-14 1:14:41 PM |
| #2 The IRA has quite a record of work accidents. |
| Posted by: Chuck 2003-7-14 11:51:16 AM |
| #1 Now I'm getting worried. The Paleos have finally figured out, after all those work accidents, that they don't know what they're doing with bombs. So they brought in a world expert. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-7-14 2:35:54 AM |