THE RUC said it foiled a major terrorist attack in west Belfast yesterday. During the operation in Dunmurry, arms were recovered and one person arrested.
Armed men were said to have taken over a house in Brook Manor, in the city suburb, to set up a sniper attack on a passing police patrol. The IRA is being blamed.
Police swooped on the house and recovered "fully loaded and ready for use" AK47 rifles. Assistant Chief Constable Mr Bill Stewart said lives had been saved and there was no doubt about the "murderous intent" of those involved.
"It is clear that this was a determined attempt by terrorists to kill or maim. What is absolutely clear is the murderous intent of those involved in the planned atrocity and the terrorists must take full responsibility for their actions."
The house was taken over by the armed men early yesterday morning. The RUC moved in to investigate suspicious activity at around 6.45 a.m. However they entered a nearby house in Arlington Drive, the wrong house, before moving into the second house where the weapons were found.
In Arlington Drive, the RUC fired CS gas through the front windows before officers broke in. A neighbour told UTV: "I was wakened up by a loud bang and I looked out the window, thinking it was a bomb, it was so loud.
"I saw a good few men firing shots into the window of a house up the street. They just kept firing for a good while. Then one of them kicked the door down and went in and took all the people out of the house. They weren't even wearing anything.
The man who owns the house, Mr Michael McClune, said it was a terrifying experience. "Sometime after 6 a.m., I heard what I thought were explosions, bombs of some sort. I jumped out of bed, looked out through the curtains, saw figures pointing guns at me, didn't know who they were because there was a lot of smoke in the room.
The children, one year old Andrew and Lindsay, aged four, were taken to hospital for a check up but discharged. Police later apologised to the owner of the first house.
. Unionist representatives have condemned a sectarian poster campaign in a loyalist district of Belfast which urged residents to stop tolerating "the nationalist scum that have flooded the area in recent years".
The unsigned posters, which were pasted up in streets throughout the Village area of south Belfast, warned that from July 1st, 1997, the loyalist people of the area "will no longer be able to guarantee the safety of any nationalist who chooses to remain within the area".