Friday, Jul 05, 2002
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By Hasan Suroor
The Northern Ireland secretary, John Reid, and the head of Northern Ireland's coalition government, David Trimble, who also leads the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), were among some half-a-dozen leaders reportedly warned that they might be targets of an assassination plot by republic dissidents. Security around them was stepped up after it was reported that the Real IRA could be planning a `spectacular' operation in a desperate bid to overcome the setbacks that have significantly marginalised it in recent months. ``The threat from the Real IRA is huge and...there are lots of fears about this weekend that someone could be shot or blown-up,'' a security source was quoted as saying. This was confirmed by Northern Ireland's acting chief constable, Colin Cramphorn, who spoke of a "number of serious threats''. He indicated that the threat could be from more than one dissident republican groups opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. Mr. Blair, in his discussions, warned that his Government would not tolerate attempts to derail the peace process and called for a halt to the street violence which has heightened tensions ahead of the Protestant Orangemen's parade through Catholic areas. Earlier, in remarks ahead of the meeting, he said action would be taken against groups who were found to be in breach of the ceasefire to which they had agreed. He rejected the idea of a "halfway house'' where paramilitary groups could break the ceasefire at will while still claiming to be committed to it. The talks, at which Mr. Trimble and the Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, were present, were held against the background of growing concern over the activities of both loyalist and republican paramilitary organisations determined to wreck the Good Friday Agreement.
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