Security sources in the North are linking the big explosives find in County Down last night to the dissident Republican group, the so-called Real IRA. Police and soldiers intercepted 500lbs of home-made explosive, and three men were arrested. News of the incident emerged as it was revealed that five hundred more British soldiers are being moved out of the North.
In what was clearly a carefully planned surveillance operation, the security forces intercepted the home-made explosives and arrested three men when they stopped two cars outside Hillsborough, on the main Belfast to Newry Road. The 500lbs of explosives were not primed and were probably being taken to Belfast to be assembled into a bomb.
The explosives are being linked to the so-called Real IRA, and there is speculation that the dissident Republican group, which carried out the Omagh bombing, was planning an attack over the St Patrick's weekend. The three men in the cars were arrested for questioning and later several homes in west Belfast were searched and a number of items seized. Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly said that the incident showed the political process had now entered a vacuum.
News of the bomb find emerged just as the RUC Chief Constable was announcing a further reduction in the number of British troops in the North. Five hundred soldiers are returning to barracks in England. However Sir Ronnie Flanagan stressed the order could be quickly reversed and the troops returned to the North within hours, if the situation demanded it.
