Loyalist paramilitaries have dumped a stockpile of explosives to be defused by police and the army in Northern Ireland, it emerged last night.
Ulster Defence Association leaders in west Belfast rounded up pipe bombs and left them at a drop-off point in the Shankill area.
The UDA claimed it wanted the weapons destroyed as part of a major drive to restore order following a violent feud with dissident leader Johnny Adair and his supporters.
In a statement, it said: "Tonight the west Belfast brigade of the UDA left pipe bombs at Ewarts playing fields to be disposed of by the security services.
"We took this action to eradicate pipe bombs from our community as part of the ongoing steps to stabilise and normalise loyalist west Belfast."
It is understood a total of 17 devices and component parts were put in bags and transported to the drop-off point.
Police chiefs and officials at the Northern Ireland Office were alerted to the plan before the operation was launched.
Senior detectives and army explosives experts were last night heading to the area to begin a major security operation to ensure the pipe bombs are made safe.
But loyalist sources have insisted this was not an act of decommissioning, claiming that Gen John de Chastelain's international disarmament group was not involved to oversee the move.
Instead, the paramilitaries said they wanted to demonstrate how the new regime would operate after Adair's family and C Company associates were forced to flee to Scotland earlier this month as a bloody shooting war which claimed four lives was brought to an end.
Loyalist politicians last night welcomed the move. - (PA)