The RUC has denied claims by Lord Molyneaux of a gun attack on the British army in Armagh city earlier this month, writes Suzanne Breen, in BelfastSpeaking in the House of Lords in a debate on the Northern Ireland Bill, the former Ulster Unionist leader accused the authorities of trying to cover up the incident. He said a British military patrol had come under "sustained fire" by paramilitaries on October 8th. He had been in the city that day and received information about the attack. He did not disclose his source and said he did not know which paramilitary group was responsible. "It is not my business. There are those qualified and equipped to do just that."
However, he was shocked the attack was never made public. "I wondered why the news of that was suppressed when I listened the next morning to the radio."
An RUC spokesman insisted the police had no record of an attack on that date. Last month, the RUC denied two attacks which the Continuity IRA said it had carried out. The CIRA claimed to have opened fire on an RUC Land-Rover in Armagh city on September 4th. The paramilitary group also claimed to have fired a rocket at an RUC barracks in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, on September 23rd.