Prison staff searched a top security Northern Ireland jail for a gun today amid fears that loyalist inmates have smuggled a weapon inside.
All visits to the Bann House section of Maghaberry Prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim, have been suspended as warders hunted the cells following an attack on two "Real IRA" prisoners on Monday.
Dissident republicans claimed a firearm was pulled during the assault on the two men by a gang of loyalists held in the same wing. Seven men were involved in the beating, which left one of the victims with head gashes.
One of those beaten is believed to be a 27-year-old republican from Co Fermanagh who is serving a 14-year sentence for possession of a so-called barrack buster bomb.
According to Ms Marion Price of the "Real IRA"-linked Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, the loyalists went into his cell and tried to strangle him.
"They beat him about the head with tins of food and then tried to shoot him, but the gun jammed," she claimed.
"Another prisoner ran to help him but he was then beaten too. "It is a matter of grave urgency that a gun is in the hands of loyalist prisoners and they are prepared to use it."
Both republicans and loyalists have been demanding segregation in the jail. Dissident terrorists linked to the "Real IRA" and Continuity IRA are also staging a so-called dirty protest, smearing their cells with excrement in a bid to force the authorities to separate them.