Six men were arrested in Northern Ireland this week following an assassination attempt on a senior off-duty police detective in the town of Omagh in County Tyrone, the Belfast Telegraph reports. Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot four times on his return from coaching his son’s football team and is described as being in critical condition after overnight surgery.
According to police statements, six men were arrested in Omagh, and the nearby town of Coalisland charged under anti-terror legislation. The dissident republican group, the New IRA released a statement claiming responsibility for the attack.
The shooting occurred as EU, Irish, and British officials look set to finalise the Northern Ireland protocol agreement, with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirming talks with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had been successful.
The protocol has been a contentious post-Brexit issue, involving the possible imposition of a hard border on the island, dividing Northern Ireland from the wider British customs. Anxiety over the protocol led to the collapse of the regional government in February 2022.
Witness reports state that detective Caldwell was shot near his car by two masked men in front of his son and onlookers shortly before 8:00 p.m. Wednesday evening. He was then taken by ambulance to nearby Altnagelvin Area Hospital. Soon after, a burnt-out car was found, suspected to be used as an escape vehicle.
The senior investigating officer who was shot led several high-profile criminal cases. The shooting is the most significant attack on British security personnel in recent years.
In a joint statement issued Thursday morning, the shooting was condemned by all major parties in Northern Ireland, among them Sinn Féin, the former political wing of the Provisional IRA, which previously waged an armed insurgency against the British presence in the region during the period known as the Troubles.
The New IRA was implicated in the death of journalist Lyra McKee in 2019 as well as numerous failed bombing attempts, including a mortar attack on a police vehicle in November 2022.
The New IRA—established in 2012 as an amalgamation of various Irish republican splinter groups who oppose the peace agreement with Britain—has been involved in numerous attacks, including the bombing of a courthouse in 2019. The group has also been involved in altercations with drug gangs in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Northern Ireland has been at relative peace since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, though it has witnessed sporadic outbreaks of sectarian violence and attacks by paramilitaries disaffected with the peace process, with Northern Ireland the only jurisdiction of the United Kingdom with an armed police force.
