Police raid suspected dissident republican bomb factory

A major suspected dissident republican bomb-making factory has been raided by gardaí.

Two men were arrested and component parts of a potentially significant explosive device seized in the planned swoop last night by gardaí in Dundalk, Co Louth around 7pm.

Among the items discovered at the outbuilding in the Mount Pleasant area of the town were two large modified gas cylinders fixed onto a trailer.

The operation could well have thwarted an imminent attack in the North similar to those carried out by extremists opposed to the peace process in recent months.

The suspects, one aged in his 30s and the other in his 50s, were taken to Drogheda garda station for questioning.

The co-ordinated raid involved officers from the Garda specialist detective unit, the emergency response unit and local gardaí.

Police on both sides of the border have been working closely to thwart the dissidents, with intelligence suggesting many bomb operations have been planned and prepared in the Republic.

The men are being detained under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

The arrest scene remained sealed off pending further technical and forensic examinations this morning.