This article is more than 7 months old

This article is more than 7 months old

Police have warned Sinn Féin that dissident republicans are planning attacks against two of its leaders in Northern Ireland, the party said on Tuesday.

Michelle O’Neill, the party’s vice-president and Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister, said she and her party colleague Gerry Kelly, a Policing Board member, received the warning from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The threats appeared linked to the pair’s attendance last week at a PSNI recruitment event, O’Neill told a media briefing at Stormont.

“Sinn Féin will not be deterred. We will continue to pursue our objective of a united Ireland while building a civic, accountable representative policing service, which polices with the community.”

The threats followed Sinn Féin’s triumph in the Irish republic’s general election last weekend. The party won almost a quarter of the vote – more than any other party – and 37 seats in parliament, putting it in contention to participate in or even lead a coalition government.

Sinn Féin is in a power-sharing government with other parties in Northern Ireland.

O’Neill said dissident republicans offered nothing to society. “These people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer. They are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people … These armed groups have nothing to offer. It’s time they packed up and disbanded.”

Police and prison officers have been regular targets for dissident republicans that reject the Good Friday agreement and wish to continue armed struggle.

Sinn Féin has supported the PSNI since 2007 but kept a certain distance from the force.

A PSNI chief constable, Simon Byrne, last week described O’Neill’s unexpected attendance at the recruitment event – her first – as “seismic and historic” and said he hoped it would boost efforts to recruit more Catholics.

In a separate development on Tuesday, police arrested four men in connection with the murder last year of Lyra McKee, a journalist who was shot by a New IRA gunman while observing a riot in Derry.

Detectives arrested the four men, aged 20, 27, 29 and 52, under the Terrorism Act. There have been previous arrests but no one has been charged for the murder.

A reminder of the continued threat posed by splinter groups came last week when the Continuity IRA admitted it tried to smuggle a bomb onto a lorry destined for an Irish Sea ferry.