Police in Northern Ireland have reportedly disrupted an IRA bomb plot ahead of Joe Biden’s visit to Belfast on Tuesday.
According to a report on Sunday in The Belfast Telegraph, members of the republican paramilitary group, the New IRA, had been seeking to plant a bomb in Derry.
“They were looking for parts to make a bomb,” an unnamed source told the newpaper. “The belief is that the New IRA was planning some sort of attack to coincide with Biden’s visit, similar to the mortar attack on the cops in Strabane last November.”
A republican source also told the newspaper that Thomas Mellon, the leader of the New IRA, demanded a “spectacular” way to eclipse Mr Biden’s visit.
“He wanted to have a spectacular, but with all the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] raids and Brit searches it’s likely he will have to settle for a riot on Easter Monday,” the source said.
The New IRA is the continuation of the IRA paramilitary group which disbanded nearly two decades ago. Mr Mellon is on the terror watchlist of MI5, the UK counterintelligence agency.
President Biden will arrive in Belfast on Tuesday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the historic deal which largely ended decades of conflict in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles.
A major security operation is underway for Mr Biden’s visit during which he will also visit Dublin and meet Irish premier Leo Varadkar and Irish president Michael D Higgins.
In recent weeks, MI5 raised the terrorism threat in Northern Ireland to “severe”.
The PSNI has warned that dissidents could also plan an attack on Easter Monday as two illegal parades have been organised in Derry.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
