News about Martin McGuinness

It was a scene that seemed more at home in a police drama. As background music played, two men were caught carrying a bomb into a vehicle before a red-haired woman calmly led it to its destination. She had sent an alert to authorities moments before, advising them from a phone box: 'We've just dropped a bomb in the Queen's University Sports Club.' In 20 minutes, it is expected to end.' The 1972 bombing was just one shocking moment captured by an American documentary team headed by academic J Bowyer Bell. Bell's video included the moment of the explosion, which injured many people. His documentary was lost for decades after being broadcast only briefly after its premiere, but it has now been revealed in new BBC 4 programme The Secret Army, after reporter Darragh MacIntyre tracked down some of those involved in making it.

On a street in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Ruthless IRA boss Martin McGuinness (left) and his allies seeming to pack explosives into a Volkswagen before the vehicle was driven away. The car bomb was later detonated (top right) on Shipquay Street in 1972. In the city centre, a massive explosion (bottom right) injured 26 people and burned many buildings. McGuinness was nicknamed 'The Butcher of Bogside.' He was the IRA's second-in-command in Londonderry during the Bloody Sunday Massacre, in which 13 innocent civilians were killed by British troops during a nonviolent protest against internment in 1972.

The agent is widely believed to be Freddie Scappaticci, a Belfast bricklayer who died in April aged 77, although today's report falls short of confirming this. Stakeknife is attributed to at least 14 people's execution as well as the kidnap and torture of many others, but the Army has long defended his operations on the grounds that his intelligence saved 180 lives. The study, according to Solicitor Kevin Winters, who was representing victims' families, was a "damning indictment on the state."

He did not hesitate about firing a bullet in the back of suspected traitors as the man in charge of the IRA's "nutting squad." However, Freddie Scappaticci (left, at the funeral of IRA man Larry marley in 1987, and right) - much to the fury of the men who would go to whatever extent to ensure the end of British rule in Northern Ireland - was the first traitor of all to the militant Republican cause. He was also Stakeknife, the top intelligence for the British Army who reported on his terrorist collaborators, but he was unable to resume his deadly IRA service. Scappaticci, who was born in 2003 and died in his 70s last year, has been implicated to the abduction, murder, and torture of up to 50 people. The long-awaited study into Stakeknife's operations was published today. Operation Kenova, the £40 million probe, also explored the role played by the Army and MI5, the UK's domestic intelligence service, in addition to Operation Kenova.

As the First Minister of Sinn Fein in the United Kingdom, the 47-year-old grandmother and mother of two has taken over as the First Minister in the powersharing Storm. It's a far cry from her up-bringing as the daughter and cousin of republican militants, one of whom was killed by the police. Her political career has seen her rise to the top in a party that was determined to erase its old image of grey-haired hardliners who were accused of only being a hair's breadth from the provos. Rather, she brought glamour and class to the party's forefront, as well as a more public moderate position that wooed many softer nationalists.

Michelle O'Neill's election in Northern Ireland has sent shockwaves through Northern Ireland, marking the first time a nationalist has held the office since it was first established at partition in 1921. However, the 47-year-old with her shiny blonde hair, bright lipstick, curled eyelashes, and painted nails signal a change in direction for Northern Ireland in more ways than one. Here's everything we know about Michelle O'Neill, Northern Ireland's first-ever nationalist first minister.

Why do we continue to fool ourselves that Northern Ireland is part of this country? It is not true, writes PETER HITCHENS. There is no such thing as a good thing. The Province is trapped on a trapdoor, awaiting the moment when the bolts are released and the floor is spinning and tumbling under Dublin rule. If Dublin is ruled by the republican militants of Sinn Fein, as is likely, the situation would be more dramatic. Vice President Michelle O'Neill (right) and Democratic Unionist Party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson are shown (top left).

Freddie Scappaticci, who was in charge of the 'nutting squad', the IRA's notorious intelligence unit, was charged with rooting out rogue informers while also giving sensitive information to the security forces at the same time. He was hunted from Cyprus to Canada, attempting to avenge an epic betrayal, but he was still living under an assumed name in Surrey's stockbroker belt for two decades.

RICHARD KAY: It's likely that he died from a bullet to the back of the head, the thrust of a knife to his heart, or that some of his victims were beaten to a pulp, as many of his victims were. To those who suspected the spy coded Stakeknife was a brutal torturer responsible for some of Ulster's bloodiest acts of revenge while also serving for the British Army, it will be sufficient that he is dead. Freddie Scappaticci, the IRA's brutal killer, possessed life and death over fellow soldiers suspected of being informers. During the Troubles, he commanded the "nutting squad" which specialized in interrogating those people suspected of supporting the security forces.

'Stakeknife,' the codename of hardened IRA man turned British spy Freddie Scappaticci (pictured), was one of the most controversial figures in the Troubles' bloodshed history. When his identity was established in 2003, it appeared inconceivable that the British government might have planted a mole deep inside the IRA's command system for more than two decades, but Scappaticci has now admitted to being the double agent. Despite the risks, Scappaticci's life will not be remembered at no one's funeral, not even from those he worked for. He spent 25 years in Northern Ireland as a spy, and treachery is raging, with police now probing allegations that he may have been accountable for the kidnap, murder, and torture of up to 50 people during the time. He was one of the most influential figures in the so-called 'nut squad,' the ruthless IRA's internal security unit, which interrogated and often killed suspect informers.

KATE MANSEY: When King Charles travels to Europe at the end of March, it will not be the first time he has detoured into the Brexit controversy. In 2020, Charles and Camilla travelled to Germany, where the then Prince of Wales gave an eloquent speech about the 'enduring links' between the two countries. It came four years after Britons voted to leave the EU, but in some quarters, it was seen as a token of Charles' continuing love for the bloc: a hint, perhaps, that if he had been allowed to vote rather than a Brexiteer.

RUTH DUDLEY EDWARDS: On Wednesday night, an old friend from Omagh, an ex-member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) - the predecessor of Northern Ireland's Police Service - called me to inform me of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell's attempted murder. It came from the same friend who first heard about the Omagh bombing in the afternoon of August 15 1998 - yes, in the same town, by the Real IRA, a splinter group that condemned the IRA's ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed the same year. DCI Caldwell, an outstanding policeman lauded by his colleagues for tackling high-profile murders, was shot by masked gunmen in the presence of his son and two other young students in this latest assault.

GYLES BRANDRETH: There is no proof that the Queen was upset by her grandson's decision to start with the book in the first place. She sympathized with Harry's decision to write his book, not only because it was needed but also because he wanted to tell his tale - to tell his truth as Meghan could put it. The Queen was devoted to Harry. She adored him, thought he was "massive fun," and she wished him well in his new life in the United States. When Harry called his grandmother from Montecito, he was always directed to Her Majesty right away.

DAILY MAIL COMMENT: A homecoming but not of the most sorrowful variety. The Queen appeared at Buckingham Palace for the final time under shroud-black skies last night. Members of the Royal Family, led by King Charles III and the Queen Consort, who will mourn privately, met her flag-draped coffin. It is also unlikely that she is no longer present in our presence as a source of stability, warmth, and continuity for the country for so many years. It's also true that throngs of people packed into the Mall just a few weeks ago to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee's appearance on the palace balcony.

The Queen has begun her final journey to Buckingham Palace, where she will be welcomed by the entire Royal Family, including King Charles III and his warring sons Princes William and Harry, as well as their wives Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. About 6.55 p.m. this evening, the RAF Globemaster C-17 plane carrying Her Majesty's coffin from Edinburgh landed at RAF Northolt in west London, after she spent 24 hours in St Giles' Cathedral, where tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Britain's longest-serving monarch. On the airfield, the Princess Royal, her husband Sir Tim Laurence, and the Lord Chamberlain disembarked the aircraft and walked in silence. Defense Minister Liz Truss and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace were among the Reception Party members, as well as members of the Guard of Honour. According to news, the bearer party will carry the queen from the plane to Buckingham Palace by road along the A40. As the coffin arrives at the Grand Entrance, the King's Guard will send a new guard of honor when she arrives at the palace. The King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and other Royal Family members are expected to meet in their feud.

The Queen is moving from Edinburgh to Buckingham Palace for the final time. As Her Majesty's coffin, which was draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland and decorated with a large wreath, was led out of St Giles' Cathedral by kilt-wearing pallbearers after 4.15 p.m. and led to Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The Corridor and pipers followed the King's Bodyguard for Scotland and pipers through Edinburgh Castle before heading to Edinburgh Airport. Thousands of mourners poured out into applause, including young schoolgirls wearing tartan and waving Union flags, as the Scottish flag, the Saltaire flag, flew at half-mask from the roof of a building. The massive crowd of men, women, and children erupted in applause as the last company of soldiers followed the procession. The Queen was welcomed by the Royal Regiment of Scotland with a royal salute before the Royal Air Force carried the coffin onto the aircraft, an RAF Globemaster C-17, accompanied by her daughter the Princess Royal. The national anthem was played as the plane took off around 5.40 p.m.

Eamonn Mallie, a broadcaster, talked to GB News that Her Majesty's handshake with Martin McGuinness in 2012, which was a 'important moment in time,' and that's why the mood has changed.' Mr McGuinness, first minister of Northern Ireland at the time, and a former IRA chief, as well as a former IRA chief. Mr Mallie also recalled the late monarch's trip to Dublin in 2011, where she did "extraordinary things" including speaking in Irish and visiting the Garden of Remembrance, which was dedicated to those who fought for Irish independence. Her Majesty, who died in Balmoral last week at the age of 96, was the first monarch to visit Ireland in over a century - her grandfather George V was the last king to visit in 1911 before the Republic's independence was established in 1911. On the new leg of his royal tour of the United Kingdom, King Charles III (pictured right) and Queen Consort met with applause at the royal residence in Belfast today.

In a sermon today (inset), the Archbishop of Canterbury (pictured left) lauded King Charles III (right), saying he has the same ability to bring 'healing' to people as his late mother did. Many people will be 'navigating their way around the raw and ragged edges of grief' following the Queen's death on Thursday, at the Canterbury Cathedral service this morning. As he began the service, the Archbishop said it was a 'unexpectedly glorious Sunday'. "King Charles III has the same ability to assess each person as God sees them," he said. That's his conscious knowledge of people.'

ROBERT HARDMAN: Monarchs, who have a particular place in history, are still entitled to the dignity of a 'age'. The Georges, Victoria, Edward VII, the Georges, would all come to define not only a time but a period of time, a mood, or even a style of architecture. However, history will tell that one king whose reign defied any such classification. Queen Elizabeth II's reign spanned way much (left is her coronation; top inset is with Diana in 1982, bottom inset as a young princess in 1942, right age two). On her watch, entire eras have come and gone. She had lead her country through the Jet Age, the Space Age, and the crown's unsurpassed stewardship of the monarch came to an end. It is an extraordinary fact that more than half of the world's nations today do not exist in their current state when she assumed the throne. We had long been in Britain, so accustomed to this utterly consistent routine in all of our lives that we had almost come to take her for granted. Queen Elizabeth II, on the other hand, portrayed stability on a massive, enviable scale. Her coronation will occur before their constitutions, national anthems, flags, and currencies. She was history made flesh.

Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of the United Kingdom arrived in the world at 2.40 a.m. on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in London's Mayfair in the year of the General Strike. The Duke and Duchess of York's first child, fair-haired and blue-eyed, was a shrewish soul who was taught at home by tutors and rather loosed maths. The Princess, who was given the name Lilibet when she discovered Elizabeth difficult to pronounce, was bright, well-behaved, systematic, and tidy. In recent months, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave it to their second child, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born in Santa Barbara, California, on June 4 to Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor. Her early life, as for the Queen, was protected. Much excitement was generated by a little bit of information on the London Underground and occasional trips on open-top double-decker buses. She was only the third in line for the throne and had no intention of being crowned. However, the abdication of her uncle David, Edward VIII, in 1936 changed her destiny for the rest of her life. Elizabeth was just ten years old when her father became King George VI, transforming her destiny overnight and making her the heir presumptive. Baby Elizabeth with her parents, future George VI and Queen Mother, at her christening in 1926 (right), with her mother, Josephine, and her father and their corgis in London in 1936 (right). No one should have predicted that she would have reigned for 70 years, as well as guiding the Windsors through choppy waters that at times threatened the Royal Family's future and integrity right up until her death.

CHRISTOPHER STEVENS : Days That Shook David Dimbleby's retrospective, Days That Shook The first half of David Dimbleby's retrospective, Days That Shook The BBC (BBC2), was one long slew of indignation at Maggie. "There seemed to be trouble when Thatcher looked at the BBC,' fumed the Beeb's erstwhile political anchor. In 1985, Martin McGuinness, the IRA chief-of-staff, refused to acknowledge that she had the right to veto a sympathetic film. The terrorist leader was depicted with his children around the breakfast table spoon-feeding a toddler less than a year after the Brighton bombing.