deadly attachmars nothern ireland peace process

LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday said his government was determined not to allow the Northern Ireland peace process to be derailed after a dramatic terror attack on an Army base near Belfast shattered a decade-long peace, raising fears of terrorism returning to the province.
The attack, in which two young soldiers were killed, sent shockwaves through the political establishment in London and Belfast and caused outrage among the people who said they shuddered at the thought of violence returning to the streets of Northern Ireland.
This is the first time in more than a decade that Army personnel have been targeted by elements fighting for a united Ireland.
Although no group has claimed responsibility, police suspected the hand of dissident Republicans opposed to the peace process. The attack came barely three days after the head of the Northern Ireland police Hugh Orde warned that the threat from dissident Republicans, represented by groups like the Real IRA, was growing.
Describing the attack as “evil and cowardly”, Mr. Brown said nobody would be allowed to “derail a peace process that has the support of the great majority of Northern Ireland”.
“We will do everything in our power to make sure that Northern Ireland is safe and secure and I assure you we will bring these murderers to justice,” he told the BBC.
In Northern Ireland, leaders of the ruling coalition, comprising the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, vowed to put down attempts to disrupt the peace process.
Sinn Fein is the political wing of IRA which fought a long and violent war of independence from United Kingdom but has now given up violence to pursue the aim of a United Ireland through democratic means.
Its President Gerry Adams said those responsible for the attack had “no support, no strategy to achieve a United Ireland”. “They want to destroy the progress of recent times and to plunge Ireland back into conflict,” he said