Sinn Fein hits back at Colombian allegations

The Irish republican movement attempted to defend itself yesterday against the latest allegations concerning its activities in Colombia, where IRA techniques are said to have been adopted by left-wing guerrillas.

Colombia's Prosecutor General, Luis Camilo Osorio, claimed hundreds of people were being massacred by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) with mortar bombs resembling those previously used by the IRA.

He claimed the IRA had tested weapons in the Colombian jungle, adding: "The techniques that the Farc have developed in recent years show that they have had technical assistance and used technology similar to that used by the IRA."

Mr Osorio said that in one attack, 115 people were massacred, "most of them children and defenceless women".

Three Irish republicans arrested in Colombia a year ago are expected to be tried there in October. Sinn Fein's chairman, Mitchel McLaughlin, claimed the Prosecutor General's remarks had prejudiced the chances of the men receiving a fair trial.

The republican stance is that the three men are innocent, with the IRA declaring that it sent no one to Colombia. But Sir Reg Empey, an Ulster Unionist minister, said: "To believe those men were travelling around to look at the local birds and the local flowers is absolute nonsense."