Timeline: unrest in Northern Ireland
Updated on 09 March 2009
A history of dissident attacks since full power was restored to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2007.
May 2007: a new power-sharing assembly government is launched on 8 May, with the Democratic Unionist Party's Ian Paisley as first minister and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness as his deputy.
November 2007: dissidents shoot two policemen in separate atttacks, both survived.
February 2008: a parcel bomb is diffused at the main Royal Mail sorting centre near Belfast.
May 2008: a splinter group of the IRA blamed for placing a booby-trapped bomb under the car of an off-duty police officer in Co. Tyrone.
5 June 2008: Peter Robinson takes over as first minister, succeeding Ian Paisley who retired as DUP leader on 31 May.
Who are the Real IRA?
Faisal Islam reports on the dissident republican splinter groups that have been terrorising Northern Ireland.
June 2008: Continuity IRA claims responsibility for landmine attack on a police are in Co. Fermanagh.
August 2008: two attacks on police officers, one in Co. Armagh and one in Co. Fermanagh.
October 2008: dissident groups accused of planting roadside bomb in Co. Fermanagh.
3 September 2008: the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) says that the IRA's ruling army council is no longer operational and the group does not pose a threat to peace.
10 November 2008: the IMC reports that Irish Republican Army dissidents were behind a more concentrated period of attacks than at any time since 2004.
January 2009: the head of MI5 warns the threat from dissident Irish republican groups has "significantly increased in recent months". A man is shot in the leg in a paramilitary-style shooting in Co. Armagh.
31 January 2009: police destroy a large bomb packed with 300 pounds of explosives in Castlewellan, south of Belfast. A splinter republican group claims responsibility.
25 February 2009: a pipe bomb is thrown at a car in Newtownabbey, Co. Antrim.
4 March 2009: Sir Hugh Orde, Northern Ireland's senior police officer, says the threat from republican splinter groups is the highest for seven years.
7 March 2009: gunmen kill two British soldiers and wound four other people at the Massereene base near Antrim, north west of Belfast.
9 March 2009: constable Stephen Carroll is shot dead while on patrol in Craigavon.
McGuinness condemns shooting
Deputy first minister Martin McGuinness insists the Craigavon shooting will not affect the peace process.
10 March 2009: Continuity IRA claim responsibility for the shooting. Deputy first minister Martin McGuinness condemns the attack alongside first minister Peter Robinson and chief constable Hugh Orde.
