The attacks according to a PSNI Spokesperson, George Hamilton, were carried out by dissident republicans opposed to peace.
Republican attacks on the police in the North have a long history. Over three hundred Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers lost their lives during the conflict mostly at the hands of the Provisional IRA. But before the Provisional IRA came into existence police were also targeted by previous incarnations of the IRA.
Operation Harvest, the codename given to its border campaign which the IRA launched in December 1956 quickly saw fatalities. Limerick IRA member Sean South died on New Year's Day the following month while mounting an armed attack on a police station in Co Fermanagh. He was buried on this day in 1957.
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| Funeral of Sean South Purchase Prints @ Irish Photo Archive |
