McGuinness Receives Death Threat

A fresh death threat has been issued to Martin McGuinness by dissident republican terrorists.

The Sinn Feín Deputy First Minister at the Stormont Assembly has been warned of the threat against his life by police.

It is believed the warning was issued during the last 48 hours.

Mr McGuinness has been a high profile target for dissidents since his party entered the NI Executive over two years ago.

More recently the Derry MP condemned the murders of two British soldiers and a PSNI officer, branding the dissident suspects "traitors to the entire island of Ireland".

His comments are said to have intensified the threat to his safety.

Last night Mr McGuinness said: "I have been contacted by the PSNI and told of the existence of a threat to my life. It is believed this threat comes from a so called dissident grouping.

"I have spent my entire adult life engaged in the republican struggle to bring about Irish unity and independence.

"Throughout that time there have been numerous attempts made to silence me and stop me going about my republican work.

"One thing is for certain neither I nor Sinn Féin has allowed these sorts of threats to stop us representing our community and driving forward the republican agenda in the past and we will not allow it to deflect us from our work in the future."

He added: "The task of building the peace process and advancing republican and democratic goals is far too important for us to let that happen."

(PR/BMcC)