BRITISH soldiers wearing helmets and carrying rifles are back patrolling the streets of Belfast for the first time in a year. Security sources said they would be restricted to protecting military bases from possible IRA attacks.
Their redeployment yesterday was welcomed by the unionist parties; nationalist politicians expressed regret.
The British army said there would not be a full scale return to security patrolling. They insisted there would only be low key occasional patrols. The soldiers have been confined to barracks in the North for the past 11 months.
British soldiers resumed operations at the Killeen checkpoint on the main Dublin Belfast road yesterday. Cars heading north were stopped and checked. The soldiers are believed to have moved there under cover of darkness.
The RUC said it was making a "carefully calculated response to the terrorist threat". The DUP deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, described the decision to redeploy troops as "responsible". The IRA did not issued warnings about its plans to launch attacks, so it was only logical to take precautions,
Mr Ken Maginnis, the security spokesman for the UUP, expressed fear that the IRA would restart its campaign in the North this weekend.
The SDLP MP for west Belfast, Dr Joe Hendron, said he "regretted but understood" the decision to return soldiers to the streets. He said he had been told they would only be monitoring the situation and not stopping and searching people on the streets.
The Irish Republican Socialist Party, the INLA's political wing, described the redeployment as "an entirely unnecessary and provocative move. A party spokeswoman said: "The presence will increase the already high level of harassment of nationalist people on the streets of working class areas."
Meanwhile, a group of armed and masked INLA men yesterday fired a volley of shots in west Belfast. They were "paying tribute" to their chief of staff, Gino Gallagher, who was shot dead last month.