Bomb Factory Raided in Protestant Area of Belfast

Police raided a bomb factory believed to be run by Protestant paramilitaries, seizing a large cache of explosives and bomb components, authorities said Monday.

Detectives said the volatile materials could have blown up at any time, causing many deaths in a 75-apartment complex in a Protestant neighborhood of northern Belfast, the provincial capital.

The apartment block was evacuated after Sunday night’s raid, and most residents spent the night at a nearby youth club. Army bomb experts spent hours examining the scene.

Police said the devices were similar to those used in recent pipe bomb attacks on Roman Catholic homes across the province. The bombings have been blamed on members of the Ulster Defense Assn. and smaller groups.

However, the bomb factory was found in a neighborhood where the rival Ulster Volunteer Force is believed to be dominant. If this group’s involvement is proved, it would mark an escalation of the Protestant paramilitary campaign against Catholics, security officials said.

Billy Hutchinson, a lawmaker from a party linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force, cast doubt on its involvement, saying he believed that the group remained committed to a cease-fire.

“The UVF are committed to the will of the people,” Hutchinson, of the Progressive Unionist Party, told the BBC. “They have not been accused of throwing pipe bombs or planting any other types of bombs over the last year or 18 months.”

Since the start of the year, there have been more than 50 pipe bomb attacks on Catholic families in Northern Ireland, many in northern Belfast.

Police did not specify the amount of explosives seized in Sunday’s raid, nor did they say how they learned of the bomb factory.