Irish army defuses loyalist bomb

Loyalist paramilitaries are believed to have planted a bomb containing commercial explosive in Monaghan town in the Irish Republic, close to the border with Northern Ireland.

The device, found in a yard behind a Sinn Fein office on Monday, was the first loyalist bomb discovered south of the border since the Combined Loyalist Military Command announced its ceasefire in October 1994.

Gardai suggested the crudely made bomb, left in a plastic holdall, may have failed to go off because of faulty construction. A man living in a nearby flat heard the detonator explode. But it failed to set off the main bomb, which was made safe by an Irish army bomb disposal unit.

The device in Monaghan is believed to have consisted of several pounds of Powergel, a type of commercial explosive which was previously used by the loyalist UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force) in devices planted in Dublin in 1994, neither of which exploded.

n A new level of detente will be reached today when Orangemen meet an Irish minister, Avril Doyle, to discuss ways in which they may be included in next year's bi-centennial celebrations of the 1798 United Irishmen's rebellion, which sought to launch an insurrection based on the ideals of the French Revolution.