Five charged with Real IRA membership

Four men and a woman were charged tonight with Real IRA membership after a firebombs find at a house in Northern Ireland.

They were also accused of possessing the type of devices used by dissident republican terrorists in a developing campaign against shops and businesses across the North.

Police charged the five, all in their twenties, after three incendiary bombs were discovered in Ballymena, County Antrim at the weekend.

British army explosives experts were called to a house at Fisherwick Gardens in the town to defuse the devices during the security alert.

All of the accused are due to appear at a special court in Ballymena tomorrow to face charges of having explosives with intent to endanger life or damage property and membership of a proscribed organisation.