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Northern Ireland

Sinn Féin to meet dissident republicans

Real IRA meeting planned to discuss recent violence.

SINN FÉIN ASSEMBLY member Gerry Kelly has confirmed that the party will meet with political representatives of the dissident republican group, the Real IRA, to discuss recent attacks in Northern Ireland.

Kelly said he would lead talks with the movement and that the meeting would take place within the coming weeks, the BBC reports. However, the dissident group said they had not confirmed the topics which would be discussed.

The latest report from the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) warned that dissident paramilitary groups remain highly active and dangerous. It said that the “range and nature of the RIRA’s activities were by any yardstick a very serious matter.”

A number of recent bomb attacks in the North have been linked to dissident republicans.

On Tuesday, a bomb exploded outside a Derry police station. Police said that a telephone warning  was designed to deliberately mislead the evacuation efforts and increase the likelihood of injury. No one was hurt in the explosion.

The following day, a bomb was discovered under a soldier’s car in Co Down, and yesterday an army bomb disposal unit carried out a controlled explosion on an abandoned car outside a police station in west Belfast.

Recently, a separate republican group, the Continuity IRA, told the Irish Times that it is arming for the future and continues to view the PSNI and British security forces as legitimate targets.