Editing Real Irish Republican Army (section)

===Early campaign===
The organisation's first action was an attempted bombing in [[Banbridge]], County Down on 7 January 1998. The intention was to explode a {{convert|300|lb|adj=on}} [[car bomb]], but this was thwarted when the bomb was defused by security forces.<ref name="Mooney" />{{rp|68–71}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Police detonate car bomb in Ulster |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/45270.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=7 January 1998 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> The RIRA continued its campaign in late February with bombings in [[Moira, County Down]] and [[Portadown]], County Armagh.<ref name="Mooney" />{{rp|87}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Eleven injured by Northern Ireland bomb |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/58729.stm |work=BBC News |date=21 February 1998 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Car bomb explodes in Portadown |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/59314.stm |work=BBC News |date=23 February 1998 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref> On 9 May the organisation announced its existence, in a coded telephone call to Belfast media claiming responsibility for a [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] attack on a police station in [[Belleek, County Fermanagh]].<ref>{{cite news |title='True' IRA claims responsibility for blast |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/90405.stm |work=BBC News |date=10 May 1998 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref>

The RIRA also carried out attacks in [[Newtownhamilton]] and [[Newry]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Abstracts on Organisations – 'R' |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/rorgan.htm |publisher=CAIN |access-date=5 May 2007 |archive-date=6 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206180554/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/organ/rorgan.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and a second attack in Banbridge on 1 August injured 35 people and caused £3.5&nbsp;million of damage when a {{convert|500|lb|adj=on}} car bomb exploded.<ref>{{cite news |title=Car Bomb Wounds 35 in Ulster Town |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E3D71E38F931A3575BC0A96E958260 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=2 August 1998 |access-date=17 June 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Bomb warning in Banbridge |url=http://www.rte.ie/news/1999/0213/banbridge.html |publisher=[[Raidió Teilifís Éireann]] |date=13 February 1999 |access-date=17 June 2007}}</ref> Despite these attacks the organisation lacked a significant base and was heavily infiltrated by informers. This led to a series of high-profile arrests and seizures by the [[Garda Síochána]] in the first half of 1998; these involved the death of RIRA member Rónán Mac Lochlainn who was shot dead trying to escape from police, following an attempted robbery of a [[Armored car (valuables)|security van]] in County Wicklow.<ref name="Mooney" />{{rp|70–71, 101–102, 124–129}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Shot robber 'was republican paramilitary' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/events/northern_ireland/latest_news/87549.stm |work=BBC News |date=4 May 1998 |access-date=8 May 2007}}</ref>