The head of British forces in Northern Ireland has paid tribute to the two “magnificent” servicemen shot dead by Real IRA gunmen outside an Army barracks. Skip related content
Brigadier George Norton condemned the “callous and clinical attack” outside the Massereene Barracks in Antrim on Saturday in which Sapper Mark Quinsey, 23, from Birmingham, and Sapper Cengiz Azimkar, 21, from Wood Green, London, were killed.
“These were magnificent individuals, and we mourn their loss,” he said.
He also rejected claims that security at the front of the base was lax, and said: “The Army is living in Northern Ireland as part of the community.
“We have to lead as normal a life as possible, and ordering pizzas of an evening is something everybody does around the community, as indeed do people leave and enter their houses routinely.
“Are there other ways we can go about doing these things? That is something we will be looking at at the moment.”
The dead soldiers from 38 Engineer Regiment were wearing desert fatigues and taking delivery of pizzas before leaving for Afghanistan. Two other servicemen and two pizza deliverymen were also seriously injured.
At one stage the killers stood over their victims and fired a second volley. Security chiefs believe the gunmen were prepared to murder all six in front of the main gates of the barracks.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has visited the army base and met servicemen and military commanders.
He is now holding talks with Northern Ireland police chief Sir Hugh Orde and political leaders at Stormont.
The shooting has sent shockwaves through the province and has shaken the peace process.
The Real IRA, which has claimed responsibility and branded the pizza deliverymen as British “collaborators”, is the same organisation that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, in the bombing of Omagh, Co Tyrone, in August 1998.
All sides in Belfast denounced the shooting, and even though republican party Sinn Fein’s condemnation stopped short of expressing sympathy for the soldiers and their families, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a former IRA leader in Londonderry, demanded the dissidents call off their campaign.
He said: “I was a member of the IRA, but that war is over now. The people responsible for last night’s incident are clearly signalling that they want to resume or re-start that war. Well, I deny their right to do that.”
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams added that the perpetrators had no support and he urged party members to help the police investigation.
The MP said: “The attack was an attack on the peace process. It was wrong and counter-productive.
“Sinn Fein has a responsibility to be consistent. The logic of this is that we support the police in the apprehension of those involved in last night’s attack.”
The Real IRA “South Antrim unit” claimed responsibility in a phone call to the Sunday Tribune paper in Dublin.
In a statement, the paper said: “The caller said he made no apologies for targeting British soldiers while they continued to occupy Ireland and also said he made no apologies for targeting the pizza delivery men who, he said, were collaborating with the British by servicing them.”
ITN