(30.10.02)Police are investigating after a fresh outburst of street violence erupted along the peaceline in east Belfast.Rival loyalists and Nationalists blamed each other for attacks on homes in Cluan place and Clandeboye drive along the Short Strand peace line.Officers were investigating reports of petrol bombs and other missiles being thrown over the peace wall.
(30.10.02)Street violence in Belfast's sectarian flashpoints must not be trated as if it has reached an "acceptable level,"Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams warned.After more clashes,Mr Adams said action was needed to stop attacks by Loyalists,which he said were portrayed as an almost tolerable "tit-for-tat".He is due to meet new Northern Ireland secretary of state,Paul Murphy tomorrow.
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(31.10.02)A major police crackdown on Loyalist paramilitaries is "putting the fear God into them",Assistant chief Constable Alan McQullian has said.He revealed that eight men with UVF connections were arrested in a security operation in Craigantlet when a pistol,shotgun and balaclavas were recovered.Yesterday three men were arrested in Belfast city centre.Mr McQuillan said they were senior UDA members and are being held over alleged extortion of building contractors.
(31.10.02)A breakthrough in the feud between the LVF and UDA could be announced in coming days,sources have told the BBC.Members of the Loyalist organisations have held another meeting on tuesday to try and resolve the dispute,centred in the east Belfast area.Although there is no resolution yet,sources say the Loyalists are close to settling there differences.Nine shootings,including three murders,have been linked to the feud which began last month.
(01.11.02)A Belfast Loyalist has been treated in hospital after being shot in both legs in the north of the city.Loyalist and security sources say he is Davy Mahood,a member of the Ulster Political Research Group which provides political analysis for the UDA.He was attacked near Benview Community centre,in Ballysillan.The UDA has admitted carrying out the attack.
(04.11.02)A man who was left nailed to a fence by his hands has been speaking about the attack from a hospital bed.Harry McCartan,23,was found barely conscious hanging from a stile near the Seymour Hill housing estate in south Belfast on Sunday."Nobody should be treated like this,"he said."They are just cowards.I was on my own and it took more than four people to do this to me."Mr McCartan also had both legs broken in the attack.
(05.11.02)The Loyalist feud that has left three men dead has ended,both sides said.In a joint statement,the UDA and LVF leaderships said that agreement had been reached after a series of meetings over the past few weeks.The feud was sparked by the murder in September of top LVF member Stephen Warnock and the wounding of senior UDA man Jim Gray.
(05.11.02)Children may have been used as cover for the Omagh bombers' look-outs,it has emerged.Three young boys were said to have been in the back of a car driven by a man whom police believe could have been scouting for the gang.Assistant Chief Constable Sam Kinkaid has refused to comment on the new line of inquiry.
(11.11.02)Assistant chief constable Alan McQuillen has said the police have broken up a major IRA intelligence operation in Belfast.He said the investigation into the Castlereagh break-in in March has taken police "into the heart of the IRA".Thousands of Documents are now being examined,with 40 detectives working on the Castlereagh and Stormont breaches.Referring to catholic civil servants,Mr McQuillen said the IRA seems to have approached only a few people.
(12.11.02)Recent security operations targeting republican spying inside government here were triggered by a police source inside the IRA,it has been reported.In a major undercover investigation called Operation Torsion,following on from the raid on Castlereagh in March,Special Branch was assisted by MI5.Investigators knew the IRA had details on prison officers,but an assessment was made that they were under no threat.Police hoped to catch the IRA's director of intelligence,but failed.
(19.11.02)Shots were fired during a night of violence in the Short Strand area of east Belfast last night.Loyalist residents at Cluan Place say a gunman appeared on a wall and fired six shots.Bricks and bottles and other missiles were thrown by Nationalists,said one eyewitness.But Nationalist residents in Clandeboye Drive say the trouble started when Loyalists threw a number of petrol bombs at their houses.
(22.11.02)Military personnel on firefighting duty will not be asked to cross picket lines,the officer commanding the province's relief fire forces has said.Lieutenant Colonel Roland Ladley said they would also not be asked to use red fire engines.He added it would compromise neutrality of the fire service "established throughout 30 years of the troubles".More than 500 troops using 32 "Yellow and Green Goddesses"have taken over from firefighters on an eight-day strike.
(25.11.02)Police shot and critically wounded a man as a suspected dissient republican bomb attack was foiled in Belfast.The man was hit twice by officers who stopped a car at the junction of Howard Street and Fisherwick Place.A second man was also arrested.A fire bomb was then found in another car outside the motor tax offices in Upper Queen Street.
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(30.11.02)A Belfast man who kept guns and ammunition to save his son from a paramilitary threat has been jailed for five years.Belfast Crown Court was told on Friday that the weapons were found hidden in the garden of the New Barnsley Crescent home of Patrick Reid.The defence lawyer said he had agreed to keep the arms cache after receiving a threat to one of his sons.
(03.12.02)Two prosecution witnesses have failed to appear at the trial of three Irishmen in Columbia accused of training Marxist rebels.The former members of the FARC group were due to testify about the presence of three foreigners in FARC camps.One in a resettlement scheme cannot be found and the other fears for his life.The defence team for Niall Connolly,Jim Monaghan and Martin McCauley has told the judge the witnesses' testimony should now not be heard at all.
