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BELFAST- A paramilitary killer cut short an already chaotic debate on Northern Ireland's political future on Friday by throwing a bag of homemade explosives into the building where parties were meeting.
Michael Stone, convicted murderer and supporter of British rule, lobbed a smoking and fizzing package into the
entrance of Belfast's Stormont parliament building before he was wrestled to the ground by security staff.
Stormont was evacuated and Stone arrested. Police Chief Constable Hugh Orde said the Army defused between six and eight devices at Stormont. "They are fairly amateurish in design - that does not make them any less dangerous," he said.
Police also said Stone, who gained notoriety after an attack - caught on television - on an IRA funeral nearly 20 years ago, was carrying a knife and gun.
Stone was jailed for life following the 1988 cemetery attack, in which three people died and scores were injured, but released six years ago under the province's Good Friday peace agreement. He vowed then his days as a gunman were over.
Friday's incident disrupted fraught discussions on a local government in which pro-British and pro-Irish parties would finally share power after years of sectarian conflict and after repeated failed attempts to find a lasting political settlement.
Feuding parties had been asked to indicate by Friday who they would nominate to lead the assembly following elections next year. Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said he was not ready to nominate anyone.
"The circumstances have not been reached where there can be a nomination or designation at this stage," Paisley said.
However, Prime Minister Tony Blair said he spoke to Paisley, who leads the province's largest party, after his statement and understood the hardliner would be prepared to stand as first minister if his opponents supported the police.
It was the latest softening in London and Dublin's stance as they seek to keep a timetable for restoring self rule on track.
In April, Blair and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern gave parties until November 24 to re-establish a powersharing executive.
They said if agreement was not reached by then the assembly, set up under a 1998 peace deal that largely brought peace to the province after 30 years of conflict, would be closed for good.
This week, Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain simply said parties must indicate by Friday whom they would nominate.
Though Paisley did not go even that far in public on Friday, London and Dublin plan to push on with a timetable agreed last month that envisages assembly elections in March.
"Tony Blair and I may have a level of frustration, we may be annoyed, but we have more concern for all of the people of Northern Ireland," a visibly frustrated Ahern told reporters.
Sinn Fein, political ally of IRA, nominated former IRA man Martin McGuinness as deputy first minister.
"I believe that none of the difficulties facing us are insurmountable," party leader Gerry Adams said before talks were suspended. He later said the day could be a "defining moment" for Northern Ireland, praising the staff who tackled Stone.
"We need to match the bravery of staff members," he said.
- REUTERS
