Slovakia confirms 'republican' arrests

Irish police found mortar bombs in Kildare raid

Slovakia's chief prosecutor has confirmed three men arrested there last week are all suspected republican paramilitaries.

The Northern Ireland Office said last Friday that the UK Government was seeking the extradition of three suspected dissident republicans.

A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the fact that three individuals have been arrested in Slovakia on the expectation of an extradition application from the UK."

However, the Slovakian authorities had originally refused to confirm those arrested were suspected Irish dissidents.

The Northern Ireland Office added that it was not its policy to discuss individual cases and it could not confirm whether an application for extradition had or would be made.

Identities still not known

On Monday, Chief Prosecutor Milan Hanzel told Slovak state television that three people, two from the Irish Republic and another from Northern Ireland, were in custody after being arrested 50 miles from the Slovak capital Bratislava on Thursday.

He said they were being held for questioning.

An Irish newspaper published the alleged names of two of the suspects claiming that they are from County Louth.

But a Slovakian interior ministry spokesman, Jozef Sitar, declined to confirm the information, saying: "I don't know where the media learned these names."

Another television station, the private Markiza network, said the three men were members of the dissident group, the Real IRA, which opposes the peace process.

It said that Slovakia has already received an extradition request from Britain for the three and that Bratislava was to give its answer to the request by mid-August.

Markiza television added the matter had been stamped "strictly confidential" by the SIS, the Slovak secret service.

Weapons cache uncovered

More details about the Slovakian arrests came after Irish police investigating the activities of dissident republicans uncovered 20 mortar bombs during a security operation in County Kildare.

They were discovered on Sunday afternoon in undergrowth along the Royal Canal near Athy.

Two men arrested on Saturday in connection with the operation are still being questioned by detectives.

Firearms, rockets and rocket launchers were also found at three different parts of the county.

It is understood that most of the weaponry is home-made.

The Irish police were searching the area for a dissident republican training camp when the arms were found.

Specialist search equipment was brought in for the operation.

The suspects are being detained at police stations in Naas and Newbridge in Kildare, under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Dissident republicans have been behind a number of attacks on police and army bases in Northern Ireland.

They have also been blamed for a number of attacks in England, including a rocket attack on MI6 headquarters in London.

The Real IRA has opposed the current peace process and the ceasefire by the Provisional IRA.

It also carried out the Omagh bombing of August 1998, killing 29 people and injuring more than 200 others, shortly after the Good Friday Agreement peace accord was signed