Counterterrorism

IRA and British intelligence have much to hide

It has been a week in Northern Ireland when the horrors of its violent past have come flooding into the present. Almost as if some rewind button has been pressed, the details of the Kingsmill and Loughinisland massacres have been heard as a reminder of those dark years.

Then, in another development yesterday, Chief Constables George Hamilton and Jon Boutcher set out plans for another major investigation into the past in what will be known as Operation Kenova.

Hamilton, Northern Ireland’s most senior police officer, has called in Boutcher, the Bedfordshire Chief Constable, to investigate the alleged activities of “Stakeknife”, a British military agent operating inside the IRA.