Irish police arrested five men on Saturday as part of a probe into dissident Republican militants active in Northern Ireland, Reuters reported. Irish state broadcaster RTE said the men were arrested on suspicion of trying to move explosives over the border and that shots were said to have been fired at officers but there were no injuries. A police spokesman said the men were arrested overnight in County Louth, just south of the border with Northern Ireland, and were now being held in Drogheda, Dundalk and Balbriggan police stations. The spokesman did not give more details as the operation was still under way. A 1998 peace agreement largely ended three decades of violence between predominantly Catholic groups who want a united Ireland and mainly Protestant unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. But militant splinter groups have stepped up attacks recently. -- SPA
