TROOP levels in the North will not be reduced until the threat of violence is removed, the British defence secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, said yesterday.
He said it was the RUC Chief Constable's assessment that 17,500 soldiers were needed in support of the RUC. Any change in the level would be at his direction.
Mr Portillo, visiting troops in the North, said: "We have to be ready for the repeat of the threat at any time. What we saw in London is that a bomb can explode with no warning or almost no warning. I don't know what may be the intention of those people who hold arms and who hold bombs. What we have to be is ready."