Page 330 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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310———Reid, Richard (1973– )

She claimed she had received death threats from McKay, Susan. Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People.
RUC officers. On the early afternoon of March 15, Belfast: Blackstaff, 2000.
1999, Nelson returned to her car after dropping “Red Hand Defenders (RHD).” Patterns of Global Terrorism,
her daughter at school; a bomb attached to the under- 2000. United States Department of State, April 2001.
http://web.nps.navy.mil/~library/tgp/rhd.htm.
carriage exploded, blowing off Nelson’s lower legs
Ryder, Chris. The RUC 1922-1997: A Force Under Fire.
and trapping her in the car. She died two hours later.
London: Mandarin, 1997.
A spokesperson for the RHD called local news-
Taylor, Peter. Loyalists: War and Peace in Northern
papers to claim responsibility; however, the sophisti-
Ireland. New York: TV Books, 1999.
cation of the device and Nelson’s antagonistic
relationship with the RUC have led to questions about
the RHD. The RUC had been known to leak intelli- REID, RICHARD (1973– )
gence to Loyalist paramilitary groups, and some
observers conclude that the RHD is not actually a sep- aka Abdel Rahim, Abu Ibrahim
arate organization but merely a cover name used by
members of one the larger Loyalist groups. Suspicion On December 22, 2001, Al Qaeda member Richard
has fallen on the Ulster Defense Association (UDA), Colvin Reid became known as the “shoe bomber”
which was associated with a group called the Red after attempting to destroy an airplane carrying almost
Hand Commandoes in the 1970s, and the Loyalist 200 people by setting fire to explosives hidden in his
Volunteer Force (LVF), the last Loyalist organization sneakers.
to declare a cease-fire. If the LVF or UDA could be Reid was born in London in 1973, the only son of
proved to be responsible for the attacks, their political an English mother and Jamaican father who divorced
goals would be jeopardized and the release of their in 1984. His father spent most of Reid’s childhood in
prisoners prevented. prison; Reid himself dropped out of school in 1989
In January 2002, the RHD claimed responsibility for and within a year was arrested for a mugging. Reid
the killing of a Catholic postman, Daniel McColgan; spent the next six years in and out of jail.
other sources have implicated the UDA in the attack. In 1995 Reid was released from prison and
The RHD then issued a warning to Catholic civil ser- embraced Islam, changing his name to Abdel Rahim.
vants and teachers, stating that they were now consid- Initially, his conversion seemed a positive step, and
ered legitimate targets. The murder and subsequent Reid stayed out of trouble with the law.
announcement are believed to be related to a dispute By late 1997, however, Reid had apparently fallen
between Protestant residents of the Glenbryn neighbor- in with more radical Muslims, including Zacarias
hood and Catholic parents whose children attend Moussaoui, who has been charged with six counts of
nearby Holy Cross primary school. On January 16, conspiracy in connection with Al Qaeda’s attack on
2002, the RHD announced it was revoking the warning, the United States on September 11, 2001. Reid
apparently in response to public condemnation by became more combative and militant in his views,
the UDA leadership. A further announcement was eventually becoming estranged from family members
made that the group would disband, but this is widely who would not convert to Islam.
disbelieved. In 1998, Reid disappeared from London. He is

See also LOYALIST VOLUNTEER FORCE; ORANGE VOLUNTEERS; believed to have traveled to Pakistan, and then to
Afghanistan, where he received terrorist training at Al
ULSTER DEFENSE ASSOCIATION
Qaeda camps. In the summer of 2001, he returned to
Further Reading England; in mid-July 2001, he again left England,
traveling from London to Israel, then to Egypt,
Bruce, Steve. The Red Hand: Protestant Paramilitaries in Turkey, Pakistan, and perhaps also Afghanistan. In
Northern Ireland. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press,
1992. December 2001, he returned to Europe, flying to
Holland, Jack. Hope Against History: The Course of Con- Brussels and obtaining a new British passport in an
flict in Northern Ireland. New York: Henry Holt, 1999. apparent attempt to conceal his recent travels.
Lavery, Brian. “A Catholic Mailman Is Slain As Ulster Vio- Investigators believe Reid traveled so extensively to
lence Continues.” New York Times, January 13, 2002, 6. help Al Qaeda identify targets for attacks.