'Real IRA' Claims It Killed 2 UK Soldiers

An organization called "The Real IRA" claimed responsibility today for killing two British soldiers at a Northern Ireland army base, the Independent reports. Four other people, including two pizza delivery men, were seriously wounded in the drive-by ambush, reports the Times of London. The attack occurred just miles from Belfast, close to a police station where suspected militants had recently been detained.

The brazen operation triggered chilling memories of 3 decades of sectarian violence and threatened to destabilize the ongoing peace process. The soldiers were the first killed in Northern Ireland since 1997. "We haven't lost a soldier or policeman to terror in quite some time," said a local politician. "We had hoped these days were behind us." The Real IRA last struck 11 years ago, killing 29 people in Northern Ireland.
(More Belfast stories.)