A few weeks ago in Jonesborough, south Armagh, the SAS were lying in a field. "They were in civvies, all cammed [camouflaged] up and armed to the teeth," says Willie Frazer, IRA victims' campaigner.

"It's boys like that we need, not hollow words of condemnation from the great and good." Frazer claims his warnings about the dissident threat went unheeded. "I'm on the ground in south Armagh. Yet when myself and other victims' campaigners said disidents wanted to kill moderate unionists in places like north Down dismissed us as headcases."

He says the onus is on the British and Irish governments to "root out" dissidents. "This has to be dealt with before it gets a grip. If that involves the SAS or saturating the streets with soldiers, so be it. I don't give a stuff about Sinn Féin sensibilities or those who say we need to tread carefully so as not to upset nationalists.

"The first priority is saving lives. They took away the RUC and some of us don't believe the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] is up to the job of fighting terrorists."

Frazer points to alleged security inadequacies in the North. The guards at Massereene, who are employed by the British Army but aren't soldiers, didn't open fire on the Real IRA. "I'm told that the guards at army barracks have now been sent for extensive firearms' training in
Ballykinlar army base. It's a bit late," he claims.

Unionists living in south Armagh believe their area is particularly vulnerable to dissident attack, according to Frazer. "If republicans can enter unionist territory like Antrim and kill, then south Armagh is very vulnerable." He says the DUP and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) aren't representing grassroots' unionist concerns and anger. East Belfast UUP representative Michael Copeland says that while the DUP – then in opposition – lambasted David Trimble when he was first minister following any dissident attack, his party is adopting a statesmanlike, constructive approach.

"We're not attempting to make cheap political gain. We're not doing to the DUP what the DUP did to us," he says. Neither does Copeland believe in an overpowering security reaction: "The response must be balanced, and targeted at those responsible – not at the entire nationalist community. The wheat must be separated from the chaff. An inappropriate reaction would only act as a recruiting sergeant for dissidents."

Martin McGuinness's powerful condemnation has helped the DUP with any voters growing uneasy with the Stormont Executive following the attacks. But that situation could easily change. One middle-ranking DUP member says: "Some of our supporters held their noses when we went into government with Sinn Féin because they thought 'at least it will stop the violence'. If there are more murders, there's a danger such thinking could change.

"People will say 'what's the point sharing power with these people if other republicans are still murdering". The dissident attacks could also potentially strengthen the campaign of Traditional Unionist MEP Jim
Allister in June's European election.