Two soldiers shot dead inside their own barracks

[Kirsten]

Two soldiers have been shot dead during a gun attack at an Army base in County Antrim, the Ministry of Defence says.

A spokesman said "four other personnel" were also injured. Earlier reports suggested they were all male.

Eyewitness reports have suggested that the attackers approached the barracks in a pizza delivery van, and the victims walked into the ambush believing a fast food delivery was arriving... One witness who lives near the base told the BBC how he looked to the sky after hearing what he thought were fireworks.


Ian Paisley Jnr, a DUP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Policing Board, said the shooting could prove to be a defining moment in Northern Ireland's history.

He said: "For the last 10 years, people believed things like this happened in foreign countries, places like Basra. Unfortunately it has returned to our doorstep."

Story here


Quite shocking this happened, first of all.. but how did whoever did this, manage to get out of there and not get caught - in that setting?! I've been inside an army base before - there were cameras everywhere, quite tight security and in a place like that, with plenty of fit, able lads kicking about (this happened around 9:40pm, just a few hours ago) - it's hard to imagine someone escaping, scott free, after carrying out something like this. Especially as 10-20 shots are thought to have been fired.

Too fishy

[MarkMono]

Why is it fishy?

Maybe I'm cyincal, but I can think of at least six fairly mundane explanations offhand.

No nice though.

[Kirsten]

Aye, it's quite clearly politically motivated in some way, and there are several explanations as to why this took place. But, (call me naive, maybe) I'm really quite surprised that so much time was allowed to elapse and the perp(s) allowed to escape with such apparent ease.

In an army base, at that time of night, it's unlikely.

[Posh]

Using pizza as a weapon is as bad as it gets. Just no on.

[MarkMono]

The internet is almost like immediately being in your mates house with a few beers in you. "Too soon" will soon fade and eventually cease to exist even as a concept.

Aye, it's quite clearly politically motivated in some way, and there are several explanations as to why this took place. But, (call me naive, maybe) I'm really quite surprised that so much time was allowed to elapse and the perp(s) allowed to escape with such apparent ease.

In an army base, at that time of night, it's unlikely.

Ach, soldiers are just people doing a job. If mistakes weren't made then the news wouldn't have been half as entertaining as it has throughout my life.

Lots of people will cheerfully use this as an excuse to grab some headlines. Standing on the backs of dead soldiers, hope they're proud.

[Kirsten]

Bastards, etc...

In this situation, it's also sorta their home as well as their "place of work", though.

Fucked up.

[Westy]

Apperently this was the work of the IRA.

[Zippy]

Not the IRA as it was known through the former troubles, the Real IRA are a competely seperate entity to the Sinn Fein IRA of old.

[Westy]

The RIRA then.

[Zippy]

Not really got the same ring to it.

[Westy]

Still terrorist fucks.

"The shootings were the first British military fatal casualties in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was shot dead by a Provisional IRA sniper on 12 February 1997"

Could kick it all off again.

[Eulonima]

Spawnkilled?

ffs.

[djtoast]

Could kick it all off again.

Can you IMAGINE what sort of a world we'll rapidly be living in thanks to overzealous politicians if there's actually a return to sustained, ongoing terrorism as there was in previous decades, as opposed to this insultingly vague "um, yes, there's a VERY REAL TERRORIST THREAT from the brown people, honest, which means we have to restrict all your personal freedoms in these very relevant and effective ways, like listening in to all your phone calls and emails."

I'm quite literally shuddering at the thought. Although it's quite cold in here, that could be partly responsible for the shuddering.

[Kenny Everett]

Bit surprised this story is singled out to be honest, considering the sub headline is this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7930958.stm

[Kirsten]

Bit surprised this story is singled out to be honest, considering the sub headline is this...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/7930958.stm

The most recent Baghdad bombing story wasn't put up untill this afternoon. I posted about this at the back of 3am this morning.

Plus, it's a completely seperate issue, Chris. Politically and geographically.

"The shootings were the first British military fatal casualties in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was shot dead by a Provisional IRA sniper on 12 February 1997"

Could kick it all off again.

Folk have been "getting used to relative peace" though and the Real IRA don't have the same level of support; but they've apparently been indicating and instigating more trouble on and off for a while now - so anything's possible.

Here's hoping it won't be allowed to get back to anything like that again, though