Enniskillen service hit by hoax

On the day the last of Northern Ireland's underground armies said it would stand down its paramilitary wing, there was a grim reminder of the province's violent past for those gathered at the cenotaph in Enniskillen.

The centre of the Co Fermanagh town was sealed off for several hours early yesterday after police received a hoax bomb warning. It came exactly 20 years after an IRA bomb exploded at the service, killing 11 and injuring more than 60.

Bomb disposal units gave the all clear in time for the Remembrance Day service, which went ahead as scheduled. Some of those at the ceremony were relatives of those killed by the IRA bomb in 1987.

The hoax came hours before the Ulster Defence Association said that from midnight yesterday it would stand down the Ulster Freedom Fighters, the paramilitary wing that claimed the majority of the 400 killings attributed to the UDA.