Attacks from dissident republicans 'likely' during G8 summit

The head of the policing operation for next month’s G8 summit said that attacks from dissident republicans were likely to continue in Northern Ireland despite thousands of extra police officers being brought in.

Any attack is likely to be away from the luxury Lough Erne golf resort in Fermanagh, where leaders of the world’s wealthiest nations will meet on June 17-18, because of the scale of the security operation, said Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay.

Mr Finlay said: "I've got no reason to say that dissidents won't do something during that period of time. This is the normal backdrop. This has been the backdrop, the sad reality of Northern Ireland over quite a period of time.”

The police operation will see 3,6000 officers drafted in from forces across Britain who have been given extra training on working with water cannon and armoured Land Rovers, both of which are used routinely only in Northern Ireland.