(Taken from press reports) Security sources now believe that the PIRA's is carrying out reconnaissance missions and collecting intelligence on targets in England, and may be planning a high-profile 'spectacular'. It is also thought that other members of the PIRA's England department, responsible for bombing Canary Wharf in 1996, have also been deployed to gather information on targets including Army regiments and MPs. One member is a former PIRA prisoner from Derry who was released under the GFA. The leader of the unit was responsible for bombing Army headquarters in the North of Ireland in 1996. Apparently, "sophisticated electronic intelligence-gathering techniques" had been used to 'eavesdrop' on an PIRA member who recently used an internet cafe in Ipswich to contact a PIRA commander in Belfast. They have since lost trace of him. RIRA: A Force to be Reckoned With Meanwhile, The Irish Times has reported that the RIRA has reached 80 per cent of the operational capacity of the Provisional IRA before its last ceasefire. The bomb attack on the BBC Television Centre in west London in the early hours of Sunday, 4 March, is thought to have been the work of the RIRA. The bomb consisted of an estimated 10-20 lb (4.5-9kg) of explosive, but the explosion was significant because the material used was high explosive (HE) rather than the home-made variety. Using an HE allows the bomb to be made smaller, thus making it not only easier to build, but easier to transport and install. The smallness in size also allows for a greater degree of security. Since the start of the year, it is thought that the RIRA carried out or attempted landmine attacks in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Armagh and Claudy, Co Derry; a heavy mortar attack in Derry; and the bombing in London. A Newry man suspected of leading some of the PIRA's most deadly operations against the security forces in the North is now believed to have defected to the RIRA. Security sources suggest that in addition to Semtex taken from PIRA stores, RIRA has military-standard HE and other material from sources in Croatia.
