Irish police on Friday intercepted a car bomb near the border with Northern Ireland as part of an investigation into dissident republicans. The discovery led to the arrest of two individuals.
A woman in her 20s was arrested Wednesday near Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, and remained in custody Friday. A man in his 40s was subsequently detained and is also being held. Both were arrested on suspicion of offenses against the state.
An Irish military bomb disposal team examined the vehicle, which contained what Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly described as an “extremely significant” explosive device.
While the intended destination of the vehicle is unclear, the incident follows two car bomb incidents in Northern Ireland this year attributed to dissident republicans. In April, a car bomb exploded outside a police station on the outskirts of Belfast, though no injuries were reported. An earlier attempted bombing at another police station was thwarted when officers detonated the device in a controlled explosion.
These events serve as a reminder of the decades of violence known as “The Troubles,” which concluded with the 1998 Good Friday peace accord. Commissioner Kelly noted that a small minority of radicalized republicans who opposed the peace agreement remain a persistent threat. "There’s a small minority of these individuals, I would describe them as radicalized republicans, and this is a threat that we’re going to continue to face for some time," Kelly stated.