Last Northern Ireland paramilitary groups promise to decommission weapons within 6 months

October 12th, 2009 Clinton addresses Northern Ireland AssemblyBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is delivering a speech to the Northern Ireland Assembly appealing to rival Catholic and Protestant leaders to strengthen their power-sharing government. Clinton told the lawmakers — the Irish Catholic bloc to her left, the British Protestants to her right — that their 2-year-old partnership is an inspiration to the world and demonstrates that even the most bitter conflicts can be resolved through patient, painful compromise.

October 11th, 2009 IRA splinter group to renounce violence in IrelandDUBLIN — The Irish National Liberation Army, an IRA splinter group responsible for some of the most notorious killings of the Northern Ireland conflict, said Sunday it is formally renouncing violence and plans to hand over weapons to disarmament officials. Two officials — one a member of the outlawed paramilitary group, the other a member of its Marxist political party — told The Associated Press that the INLA is making both commitments 11 years after declaring a shaky cease-fire.

October 8th, 2009 Rebel IRA gunmen fire volley over comrade's coffinDUBLIN — Three masked Irish Republican Army dissidents fired a volley of gunfire over a dead comrade's coffin Thursday in the most public display of paramilitary defiance Northern Ireland has seen in years. The militant tribute was paid to John Brady, a 40-year-old IRA veteran who hanged himself last weekend in police custody.

October 8th, 2009 IRA dissidents shoot Northern Ireland man in legsDUBLIN — Police and politicians say Irish Republican Army dissidents have shot a Northern Ireland man in both legs in a so-called "punishment" attack, and police who responded were attacked with bricks, bottles and other makeshift weapons. One policeman was hospitalized with a head wound.

October 7th, 2009 Lithuania resumes IRA dissident trialVILNIUS, Lithuania — The trial of a suspected Irish Republican Army dissident accused of trying to purchase weapons and explosives in Lithuania resumed Wednesday with defense attempts to get the prosecutor dismissed. Michael Campbell, the brother of a senior Real IRA figure in Ireland, was arrested in January 2008 when he allegedly handed euro10,000 (then $14,000) to an undercover Lithuanian intelligence agent posing as a weapons supplier.

October 1st, 2009 Suspected IRA dissident detained over cop killingBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Northern Ireland police have detained a 22-year-old man suspected in the dissident Irish Republican Army killing of a policeman seven months ago. Police said Thursday they were holding the suspect at their main interrogation center west of Belfast.

July 23rd, 2009 2nd N.Ireland man charged with killing soldiersDUBLIN — The Northern Ireland police say they have charged a second suspected IRA dissident with the killing of two off-duty British soldiers in March. The 44-year-old man will be identified at his arraignment later Thursday at a court northwest of Belfast.

June 29th, 2009 NIreland disarmament chief confirms UVF arms movesLONDON — Northern Ireland's disarmament chief announced Monday he has witnessed a major weapons handover by the Ulster Volunteer Force, an outlawed group that terrorized Irish Catholics for decades — but he cannot confirm if the shadowy gang has surrendered all of its arsenal. Retired Canadian Gen.

June 27th, 2009 NIreland's Ulster Volunteer Force says disarmedLONDON — Northern Ireland's oldest paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, announced its full disarmament Saturday — a long-sought peacemaking move that, if confirmed, would formally end the pro-British group's decades of terror against Irish Catholics. And the other major Protestant paramilitary group, the Ulster Defense Association, announced it also has begun to surrender weapons to independent disarmament officials.

June 21st, 2009 NIreland police charge 2 over attacks on RomaniansBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Police in Northern Ireland have charged two teenagers over a series of attacks on Romanian families that drove 100 people from their homes. The Police Service of Northern Ireland says the boys — aged 15 and 16 — were charged with provocative conduct late Saturday.

June 19th, 2009 Northern Ireland police search houses in BelfastBELFAST, Northern Ireland — Police investigating a series of attacks on Romanian families in Northern Ireland searched houses in Belfast and arrested two teenagers Friday. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said officers searched houses in Donegall Avenue, in a working-class district known as The Village near where the attacks took place.

June 18th, 2009 Attacks continue on Romanians in Northern IrelandLONDON — Northern Ireland's police chief warned Thursday that recent attacks on Romanian immigrants that forced 20 families to flee their homes are damaging the region's economy and reputation. Chief Constable Hugh Orde criticized the gangs who hurled bricks and bottles at the homes of Romanian families in a working class Belfast neighborhood.

March 10th, 2009 LONDON - Two days after the fatal shooting of two British soldiers outside a barracks, a police officer was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Northern Ireland late Monday, authorities said. There was no immediate indication of terrorism in Monday's shooting at a high school in Craigavon in County Armagh.

March 9th, 2009 LONDON - The Real IRA, a dissident splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, has claimed responsibility for an attack on an army barracks in Northern Ireland that killed two British soldiers, media reports said Sunday. According to the Irish Times, Suzanne Breen, a reporter for Dublin-based Sunday Tribune, was contacted by a man providing 'a recognised code word' and claimed responsibility for Saturday night's shooting on behalf of the South Antrim brigade of the Real IRA.

March 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Sunday condemned the attack on an army base in Northern Ireland that killed two British soldiers. 'The United States condemns the attack in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, last night that resulted in two deaths and injuries two others,' said a statement released by acting US State Department spokesman Robert Wood.