DHAKA: Taliban-inspired technology is boosting the capacity of dissident republicans to wage war against the security services, with the discovery of advanced weaponry never seen before in Northern Ireland.

Independent on Sunday reveals, reports The Times of India.

The degree of technical sophistication is ‘unprecedented’, and experts are warning that it is part of a worsening picture that could include a sustained bombing campaign.

Police managed to foil an attack which had been planned in South Armagh using what the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) described as two ‘mortar type’ devices.

Dissident republicans had planned to bring down a helicopter using the rocket launchers, which took army bomb disposal experts three days to examine.

In the wake of the discovery, security sources approached Democratic Unionist MP Jim Shannon with their concerns.

The weaponry, found in August, was unlike anything seen in Northern Ireland before. It is understood that it could be detonated remotely using an infrared laser - a tactic used by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

‘This is a different level of terrorism. When it comes to the sophistication, when it comes to the technological detail, these are things that have never been seen in Northern Ireland,’ said Shannon.

He said the ‘deeply worrying’ discovery confirmed that there are links between people in Afghanistan and Pakistan and those that made the bomb and mortar attack weapon in Cullyhanna.

The Northern Ireland Office, PSNI and ministry of defence declined to comment. But one security expert, who would not be named, said, ‘There is information to suggest it had an infrared detonator. There is a genuine anxiety about this’.

BDST: 1842 HRS, DEC 01, 2013