Terrorists still targeting police as force reviews cold case files

The public outcry following the young Catholic officer’s death has had no influence on the violent extremists, who also harbour plans to launch an attack on the UK mainland.

Detectives have evidence the dissidents have been actively targeting Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) personnel since blowing up 25-year-old Pc Kerr in Omagh, Co Tyrone, on Saturday.

Officers do not want the nature of the intelligence to be made public but they say murder plots are being uncovered at a rate of one a fortnight.

One PSNI source added: “There is absolutely no indication the community outrage has had any impact on the mindset of the dissidents.”

It has emerged that, just 24 hours before the fatal car bomb blast in Omagh, police had ordered a specialist team of detectives to begin sifting through old cases.

The cold case review will see exhibits analysed using the latest fingerprint recognition technology and Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA forensic techniques.

The team’s work is being funded directly by the additional £245m secured by the PSNI from the Treasury and Stormont Executive to tackle the dissident threat.

High-ranking security sources revealed the additional investigative tactic against the wider dissident movement as two men arrested on suspicion of Pc Kerr’s murder were questioned.

The review will examine crimes detectives believe may have involved present-day dissidents.

“We hope to engender a state of paranoia among the dissidents,” said a police source. “Make their lives as uncomfortable as possible.”

Much of the dissident arsenal originates from the former Yugoslavia.