Fewer Bombings, Shootings and Paramilitary Style Attacks in NI Over last year

By Rebecca Black (PA)

There were fewer bombings, shootings and paramilitary style attacks in Northern Ireland in the last year according to the latest police figures.

There were four bombing incidents in the region between July 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, down from 13 in the previous 12 months, and 26 shooting incidents, down from 37.

The latest figures compiled by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) from police records show there was one death described as security-related in the last 12 months.

That was the killing of Mark Hall in a gun attack at his family home in Rodney Drive in west Belfast on Saturday 18 December. It is believed the gunmen involved were dissident republicans.

The annual number of deaths described as “due to the security situation” has been in single digits for the last 10 years, from two in 2012/13, one in 2013/14, up to three in 2014/15, three in 2015/16 and five in 2016/17.

They dropped to two recorded in 2017/18, two in 2018/19, one in 2019/20 and up to three in 2020/21.

The number of so-called paramilitary style or punishment attacks has also dropped.

There were 11 casualties of paramilitary style shootings compared with 18

during the previous 12 months, and there were 36 casualties of paramilitary style assaults compared with 37 in the previous 12 months.

All the casualties were recorded as being aged 18 years or over.

Meanwhile, there were 126 security-related arrests under the Terrorism Act, compared with 118 in the previous 12 months, and 17 people were charged, compared with 23 in the previous 12 months.

There were also fewer firearms found during the past 12 months (24) than the previous 12 months (39). That decrease is attributed to the finding of a large quantity of firearms in May 2021.