The sites where the letterbombs have been received (image from Sky News website)

Updated:

According to the Daily Mirror it is looking like it’s all likely to be the fault of Seamus and not Abdul. It is indeed a very long time since dissident republicans had a bombing campaign.  So it’s ‘chokkies’ and not ‘Towelheads’, makes a change I suppose. We shall see what develops.

A series of explosive devices have been sent to Army recruiting offices across the country.

Sky News said:

“At least one of a series of suspected explosive devices sent to military sites across the UK had a Republic of Ireland postmark.

Packages were found at armed forces careers offices in Oxford, Slough and Brighton, the South East Counter Terrorism Unit said.

Another suspect package was found in a vehicle which was stopped and searched at 8.30am near RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, which hosts the US military.

The discoveries come after the army and post offices were put on alert after two “basic but viable explosive devices” were found earlier this week by military recruiters.”

It is quite tempting to ascribe these bomb attempts to dissident Irish republicans bearing in mind the fact that one of the bombs was posted from the Irish republic. The smallish devices were aimed at a traditional target of Irish Republican terrorists, the British Army which puts them in the frame. However, because Ireland, like the UK, has a growing problem with militant Bearded Savages an Islamic aspect can not really be ruled out at this time. Just because something was posted in the Irish Republic doesn’t mean that these devices are connected with extremist Irish Republican politics.

Islamic groups and individuals have in the past threatened British troops and the Al Shabab group of jihadists even threatened the lives of any British Muslim who supported the UK military. Such foes are just as likely to want to send explosive devices to British Army addresses and to American troops based on UK soil as are dissident Irish Republicans.

We’ve not seen much Ireland related terrorism on the mainland for a while now, but we’ve seen plenty of sabre-rattling, actual violence and threats of violence coming from the Bearded Savages which makes me think that there is a strong possibility that these attacks may have an Islamic origin.

It may become clearer over the next few days whether those who posted these devices said ‘Allah hu Akbar’ or ‘Tiocfaidh ár lá‘ while they were assembling or sending them.