Pipe bombs undermine disarmament

Loyalist pipe bombers have been accused of undermining the case for IRA disarmament by an Ulster Unionist minister in the Northern Executive.

The Enterprise Minister, Sir Reg Empey, said that republicans were asking how the IRA could be asked to disarm when pipe bomb attacks were being carried out by loyalists.

Mr Empey’s comments follow an RUC operation in the Greater Belfast area that resulted in three arrests and the seizure of a number of suspicious devices.