THE SON of one of Ireland’s most notorious terrorists was among six dissident republicans arrested after they stole €60,000 worth of alcohol and two articulated trucks, valued at €240,000.

ARMED men attacked Syrian security forces in a tense northern city yesterday, Syrian officials said, and 120 policemen and security forces were killed in a region where the army has carried out days of deadly assaults on protesters calling for the end of President Bashar Assad’s rule.

Nine people were arrested today after a massive Garda blitz on suspected drugs gangs.

Armed police have surrounded a house in south Belfast after a firearms incident.

ARMED members of the Garda Regional Response Unit monitored the funeral of Limerick crime boss Philip Collopy yesterday, as a horse-drawn hearse bearing an aluminium casket made its way through the city centre.

ARMED gardaí, backed by air support, swooped on Tipperary town yesterday, arresting several suspects linked to a violent rampage that left several people hospitalised on St Patrick’s Day.

A SENIOR member of the Limerick regeneration agency met with the McCarthy-Dundon gang in prison to discuss crime matters in the city, it has emerged.

ARMED raiders fired a shot during the robbery of a security van in Sutton, north Dublin yesterday.

ARMED detectives patrolled city streets in Dublin last night after an escalating gang war resulted in a hand grenade attack on a family home.

ARMED Garda response units are to be set up this year as part of a Garda crackdown on crime.

ARMED gardaí swooped on houses and prisons in the midlands yesterday in a bid to thwart the smuggling of drugs and mobile phones behind bars.

ARMED police escorted trucks carrying ballots to polling stations yesterday in preparation for weekend legislative elections in Afghanistan, as militant attacks kept tension high and a purported Taliban spokesman urged people to boycott the landmark vote.

Armed police arrested two women at Liverpool Street station and evacuated the area, officers said today.

ARMED Palestinian militants shut down a government building in the West Bank yesterday.

ARMED men stormed a house in an eastern Pakistan village yesterday, killing a couple, their son and two relatives in an attack carried out to avenge family honour.

ARMED police smashed their way into a house in England yesterday as officers stepped up their search for a former bin man linked to four brutal murders.

ARMED gardaí have been placed on standby to be deployed against criminals suspected of intimidating prison officers and members of the legal profession.

ARMED men attacked Ivory Coast military police at the state TV headquarters yesterday, sparking a battle that killed 18 people.

ARMED detectives are patrolling the northside of Limerick on a 24-hour basis following the gangland killing of John Ryan.

ARMED police yesterday transferred the alleged mastermind of last month’s deadly Bali nightclub bombings to the Indonesian capital for more questioning.