Continuity IRA

An extremist Irish republican terrorist group which split away from the IRA in 1995. It was responsible for blowing up Killyhevlin Hotel, near Enniskillen, in July 1996 and car bombings during 1997 and 1998. It is based in the Irish Republic, just south of the border with Northern Ireland, and is aligned with Republican Sinn Fein, which broke away from Sinn Fein proper in 1986 when the latter decided to take a seat in the Irish Parliament. Although its membership was estimated to be below 50, from September 1998 it was the only republican terrorist body which remained officially active.