A TOP IRA suspect was under armed guard last night in hospital.
He was found with face and arm injuries, and according to
authoritative security sources has been questioned about a terrorist
missile which they believe exploded prematurely.
The man was arrested when a taxi, apparently heading for the border,
was stopped near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone. He was taken to Tyrone
County Hospital, Omagh, then to Altnagelvin, Londonderry, before being
transferred to a hospital in Belfast.
Hours earlier on Saturday night police found the remains of a mortar
bomb which had crashed through the roof of a barn near Cookstown, County
Tyrone.
Security forces believe the missile, detonated from the back of a van,
may have been gone off prematurely.
Just before that a gang of masked gunmen took over a house in the
area, holding a family hostage before seizing the van and then a car
which was later found abandoned.
The bomb incident and the man's arrest on Sunday have not been
officially linked by the RUC, but security sources have confirmed that
the man under arrest is a suspected IRA leader in east Tyrone.
Meanwhile, Orange Order parades in Northern Ireland ended last night
without any major trouble. Nine people were arrested in disturbances
hours before the demonstrations started but the rallies, involving an
estimated 85,000 Orangemen and women, many from Scotland, passed free of
violence.
Police and troops remained on duty until public houses closed.
The rallies at 19 separate venues had the potential to cause
considerable disorder close to a number of nationalist areas.
There was a brief scuffle between police officers and some Roman
Catholics who tried to hoist an Irish Tricolour flag in protest at the
route of a parade in Dungannon, County Tyrone.
A couple arrested were later released, but RUC headquarters in Belfast
confirmed last night there had been no reports of any serious incidents.
Earlier however, in the hours before the parades started, police and
troops were pelted with stones, bottles, and petrol bombs during minor
rioting in Belfast, Londonderry, Newtownards, County Down, and near
Ballycastle, County Antrim. Plastic bullets were fired to break up the
gangs. No-one was injured.
Both the British and Irish Governments were denounced by Orange Order
leaders and some Ulster Unionist MPs, including Mr James Molyneaux, held
out little hope for an early resumption of all-party talks on the future
of Northern Ireland.
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