Man Charged After Bomb Found in Car on N2 Near Irish Border, 2nd Arrest in Case

Q: Where did dissident republicans obtain military-grade explosives for this thwarted attack, and who was the ultimate target?

There is no confirmed public evidence yet of where the bomb-makers obtained the military-grade explosive, though security sources and court reporting strongly suggest it was Semtex, likely drawn from dissident republican stock that was never decommissioned after the Good Friday Agreement. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly explicitly said some dissident republicans “did not put weapons and explosives out of use,” which is the clearest official indication so far. No police statement released publicly has identified a fresh supplier, smuggling route or external source. The likely ultimate target appears to have been in Northern Ireland, but officials have not named it definitively. The strongest reported theory from police and security sources is that the completed device was intended as an under-car bomb, most likely against the PSNI or at a police station north of the border. BBC reporting said Northern Ireland police’s main line of inquiry was that a police station was the target. Other reporting, including the Irish Times and RTÉ-linked accounts, said investigators believed it may have been designed to be attached to a vehicle in Northern Ireland. So, based on what is publicly known, the explosives most likely came from retained dissident republican arsenals rather than a newly identified source, and the intended target was most likely the PSNI—possibly via an under-car bomb or an attack on a police station.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 25

A man in his 40s was charged after a bomb was found in a car stopped on the N2 near Carrickmacross, and he is due before a special sitting of the Criminal Courts of Justice on Saturday evening.
The vehicle was intercepted on Wednesday in an operation targeting alleged dissident republican activity, with the device discovered not far from the Irish border.
A 25-year-old woman was already charged on Friday over the same incident, bringing the number charged in the case to two.