Republican dissidents blamed for fatal bombing
Rogue republicans were today blamed for a bomb attack which killed a construction worker at a Derry army base.
The 51-year-old victim, named locally as David Caldwell, suffered multiple injuries after picking up a lunchbox-type device in a temporary building at the Territorial Army’s Caw Camp.
He was taken to Altnagelvin hospital but died a short time later.
As police sealed off the area and launched an investigation, security sources accused dissident terrorists opposed to the peace process.
One said: “It’s far and away most likely to be the dissidents.
“It’s likely this was some form of anti-handling device, probably activated by a mercury tilt switch they have used in the past.
“Once you move it the bomb activates.”
The dead man is understood to have been a former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment who lived in the village of Eglinton, six miles outside Derry.
He had just arrived for work in the barracks which was undergoing refurbishments.
The base is used mainly by ambulance and other medical units within the TA.
An Army spokesman denounced it as a “despicable, cowardly attack”.
He added: “This is a centre for medical units which provide TA personnel for peacekeeping and humanitarian tasks all over the world.
“These people are lifesavers and it’s outrageous that such an incident should occur in such a place.”
Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid hit out at the terrorists’ bid to wreck the peace process.
“This murder is utterly contemptible,” he said.
“Dissident republican bombers and loyalist murder gangs are two sides of the same coin.
“None of us in Northern Ireland can afford to let them succeed.”
The bomb is the latest in a series of attacks on army bases in and around Londonderry.
Within the last two years the dissidents have been blamed for explosions at Ebrington, Magilligan and Ballykelly barracks.
Gregory Campbell, the hardline Democratic Unionist MP for the area, claimed Tony Blair could no longer argue the peace process was working.
The staunch opponent of the Good Friday Agreement said: “Two days ago I was sitting in Downing Street and when we outlined the worsening situation he expressed surprise and almost disbelief.
“Now 48 hours later we couldn’t have a more tangible evidence that things aren’t working.
“The Government has to stop living the lie.”
Sinn Fein MLA Mary Nelis voiced total opposition to the bomb and urged those behind the attack to halt their campaign.
“The people who carried out this attack are opposed to the peace process,” she said.
“They have little or no support and operate without a strategy to achieve political change.”
As fears grew that loyalist paramilitaries may strike back, senior Ulster Unionist Sir Reg Empey appealed for calm heads.
He said: “This tragic event serves only to remind us all of the futility of violence and the pointlessness of terrorism.
“It is not a time for knee-jerk reactions, it must act as a spur for all sides in Northern Ireland to completely renounce and reject the idea that political objectives can be achieved by physical force.”
The SDLP Assembly member for the area, Annie Courtney claimed those who carried out the attack had “no respect for human life and no thought for the people whose lives will be devastated by the events of this morning.
“I would appeal to the public to keep calm and would say that retaliation of any sort would be completely counter-productive.”
