Investigation against seven men in Northern Ireland: police officer shot on football field

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Three months after a police officer was shot in Northern Ireland, an official investigation has been launched against seven men. As Northern Ireland police announced on Saturday, the men aged between 28 and 72 are all charged with attempted murder. Some of them would also answer terrorism charges.

In late February, senior police officer John Caldwell was shot multiple times by two men as he coached a children’s soccer team at a sports ground in the town of Omagh.

Behind bars on suspicion of terrorism

The children, including Caldwell’s son, had to take cover because of the shots and local residents gave first aid. Caldwell was hospitalized for two months and was discharged home last month.

The seven suspects will be brought before the examining magistrate on Monday. Two of them are accused of membership in the banned underground organization IRA. Three others are said to be responsible for preparing a terrorist act. UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Chris Heaton-Harris welcomed the proceedings on Twitter and thanked Northern Ireland police for investigating the matter.

IRA factions still active

In Northern Ireland – 25 years after the end of the conflict with the Good Friday Peace Agreement – there are only occasional attacks on police officers, which used to be a regular occurrence. After an explosive device was found under the car of a Northern Irish police officer in April 2021, the IRA splinter group New IRA claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.

About 3,500 people were killed in the conflict in Northern Ireland. For decades, the IRA fought for the union of Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. On 15 August 1998, 29 people were killed and 220 others injured in a bomb attack by an IRA splinter group in Omagh.

The situation is now tense again. Northern Ireland has not had a functioning government since February 2022 because the pro-British DUP refused to take part in the executive in protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol agreed in the Brexit deal. Unionists are particularly concerned about the protocol’s customs provisions, which create a de facto maritime border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. (AFP)

Source: Blick