The director of an anti-IRA victims' group has accused the Provisionals of trying to kill him. Willie Frazer, of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), said supporters of IRA chief-of-staff, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, attacked him twice in South Armagh last month.
He says they forced his car off the road after pelting it with quarry rocks, and then ran at him with pick-axe handles. Frazer, who organised the controversial Orange parade in Dublin earlier this year, told the Sunday Tribune: "I was very lucky to escape unharmed. I've now increased my personal security.
"I've been warned of death threats in recent days. I don't believe Adams and McGuinness want me dead, but Slab's men are angry because the authorities, on both sides of the Border, are making life very difficult for them now."
Frazer has pursued Murphy's oil tankers across south Armagh and has regularly highlighted his smuggling activities. Some of Murphy's assets have been frozen after a joint operation by the Criminal Assets' Bureau and the North's Assets' Recovery Agency.
Frazer says he drove a Co Tipperary academic, who was researching criminality, to Murphy's farm three weeks ago. "He wanted to see Slab's place. As we passed, a van was leaving. The driver called me an 'orange b*****d' and a 'black b*****d'. Then he said, 'We'll kill you, you f****r'."
The next day, Frazer was driving two Aberdeen researchers, who were studying conflict resolution, around South Armagh, when two vehicles, driven by Slab's supporters, tried to force him off the road, he claims.
"We had just past Cullaville when one van with four men came in tight behind me, and the other van, with two men, pulled up beside me. The driver shouted 'get out of this f****ng area, you're not wanted.'
"A car travelling in the opposite direction forced one of the vans to drop back, so I did a hand-brake turn and headed back to Crossmaglen." Frazer rang the police but was told no security force personnel were in the area to assist him.
He says he photographed both vans and one of the men, and took the vehicles' registration numbers. These details have since been given to police.
As Frazer was continuing his journey to Newtownhamilton, his car was again attacked: "Two boys lying in grass jumped out and hurled quarry rocks. One hit the side of the car, and I swerved. Another man, on the opposite side of the road, then threw more quarry rocks which dented the bonnet.
"The car went into a spin and we ended up in a grassy bank a few hundred yards up the road. Three more men then came running at us with pick-axe handles.
"Somehow, I managed to get the car out off the bank and get away. I'm not ashamed to say I was scared. Only a fool wouldn't have been frightened. Had they got us, I believe they would have killed us. But this won't stop me." Frazer said he, and the Scottish researchers, all made statements to police.
The FAIR director, who has also recently visited the home of ex-INLA prisoner, Dessie O'Hare, denied he was acting irresponsibly: "For too long law-abiding people in Border areas have been intimidated. There is meant to be a peace process. I should be free to travel wherever I want."
