Armed Groups Merge To Form 'New IRA'

Three of Northern Ireland's dissident republican groups are to come together calling themselves the IRA.

A statement delivered to journalists in secrecy last night said there had been a failure among Irish nationalist leaders to remove the British presence from Northern Ireland.

The groups involved are the Real IRA, Republican Action Against Drugs, and a coalition of armed republican groups sometimes referred to as Oglaigh na hEireann.

They called on the "ideals and principles" of the 1916 Proclamation and blamed the "British military presence in our country" for "the necessity of armed struggle in pursuit of Irish freedom".

Part of the statement read: "The root cause of conflict in our country is the subversion of the nation's inalienable right to self-determination and this has yet to be addressed. Instead the Irish people have been sold a phoney peace, rubber-stamped by a token legislature in Stormont."

It was signed "Army Council – IRA".

Up to several hundred armed republicans are involved, under a newly-merged command structure with one leadership.

The Continuity IRA is not believed to be involved in the new IRA organisation.

An anonymous source told the Guardian that attacks are being planned on security forces, the 2013 City of Culture celebrations in Derry, and other targets viewed as "normalising British rule".

(NE)