§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Minister of State for Defence how many bomb explosions the Army were called to investigate in Northern Ireland on Monday, 20th December; how many pounds of explosive material were used; what injuries were inflicted; and what arrests were made by the Army.
§ Mr. Johnson SmithArmy ammunition technical officers investigated one bomb explosion which caused shock to three women and 10 explosions which caused no injuries. Two of the devices were estimated to have contained over 20 lbs. of explosive each, six 10 to 15 lbs. each, and three 2 to 5 lbs. each. No arrests were made by the Army at the time.
§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Minister of State for Defence how many bombs the Army defused in Northern Ireland on Monday, 20th December; of how many pounds of explosive material these bombs were made up; and how they were intended to be donated.
§ Mr. Johnson SmithArmy ammunition technical officers dealt with seven explosive devices. Four of them, containing 28 lb., 15 lb., 15 lb. and 13 lb. of explosive respectively, were fitted with timing devices. The remainder, containing 15 lb., 10 lb., and 5 lb. of explosive respectively, were fitted with safety fuses.
§ Mr. Chichester-Clarkasked the Minister of State for Defence (1) in how many 77W houses in the Belfast area which have been searched during the last two months have arms finds been made;
(2) how many houses have been searched by the security forces in the Belfast area in the last two months;
(3) what was the total quantity of arms collected in searches of houses in the Belfast area made during the last two months.
§ Mr. Johnson SmithI regret that the information cannot be supplied in the detail requested by my hon. Friend without disproportionate effort. During November and December, 1971, the security forces searched 5,617 houses in Northern Ireland.
Army finds during that period included:
110 Rifles. 18 Automatic weapons. 83 Pistols and revolvers. 98,000 rounds of Ammunition. 800 lb. of explosive.