In bomb’s aftermath, INLAto urge truce by dissidents

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — The Irish National Liberation Army is expected to call a cease-fire in the near future and thus end its 23 years of violence following a statement from its political wing, the IRSP, saying there is "no basis for the continuation of armed struggle by Irish Republicans."

The IRSP statement from spokesman Willie Gallagher said that following a meeting of its Ard Comhairle, it called on "all other republican groups to accept that there is no basis for armed struggle and to desist now."

The statement will put further pressure on the so-called "Real" or "True"IRA and the Continuity IRA dissident groups, which are being blamed for the Omagh market massacre.

They are believed by Gardai to be the military wings of Republican Sinn Fein and the 32 County Sovereignty Committee — though both groups deny this.

The extreme left-wing INLA splintered from the Official IRA and was set up in Dublin in 1975 after it refused to abide by the Official’s cease-fire of 1972.

The Official IRA had in turn emerged in 1970 when the IRA split into "official" and "provisional" wings.

The INLA has remained active as a small hard-core terrorist group and was responsible for the shooting of loyalist leader Billy Wright in the Maze prison outside Belfast earlier this year. This led to a spate of sectarian killings in which 12 Catholics died.