RIR Tragedy

A soldier taking part in an operation in the Nad Ali area of Helmand province on Wednesday has been killed after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. The soldier's death brings the total number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 359. The Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle has expressed his condolences to the family of soldier from the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) who was killed in action in the Helmand province of Afghanistan after an MoD spokesman said his next of kin had been informed. "I was extremely saddened to hear of the death of one of our brave soldiers in Afghanistan. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of this soldier," he said this morning. "This death is another reminder of the dangerous task that British soldiers and those from other countries face in Afghanistan. Those soldiers serving in Afghanistan are attempting to bring democracy and peace to a troubled land and yesterday this soldier lost his life in attempting to achieve these goals," he said.

Belfast Alert 'Hoax'

A bomb alert in north Belfast that was sparked on Wednesday by the discovery of a suspect device on Jamaica Road was later declared a hoax by police. They said that a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspicious object taped to a lamp post, after a number of homes were evacuated during the alert, just off the Oldpark Road.

Newry Beating Carbon

Sinn Fein MEP Bairbre de Brún was in Newry on Tuesday at the official launch of the city's Low Carbon City Charter. "It is wonderful to see such a fantastic and innovative approach being pioneered here in Newry. The Low Carbon City Group's work to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy includes important work on an energy audit and carbon mapping carried out with help from DEL under the Innovation Fund," she said. "They have drawn inspiration from the significant progress made on a cross-border basis between Newry and Mourne Council and Louth Council. They have benefited particularly from being observers in the EU CONCERTO programme with Dundalk, Mödling in Austria and Neuchatel in Switzerland. It is essential to continue this excellent cross-border and wider international work, sharing best practice and promoting efforts to achieve a sustainable low-carbon future," she concluded.

Chapel Attack Slammed

Alliance East Belfast MP Naomi Long has expressed her sadness at the second attack on St Matthew’s church in the Short Strand area in a week. Blue, white and red paint was thrown at the building overnight. There was a similar attack last week. Naomi Long MP said: "There has been a lot of good work done to improve relations at interfaces in the area. Despite this, it appears that there are still those who feel that it is acceptable to carry out sectarian attacks. I attended a service in St Matthew's on Sunday to show solidarity and to demonstrate that the local community is opposed to these attacks. This message has not gotten through to these mindless thugs, but I hope that it does not damage community relations," she said. "If anybody has any information about either of the attacks on St Matthews then they contact the police."

Murder Probe In Limerick

Gardaí in Limerick are this week investigating the discovery of the body of a 71-year-old man in a house in Limerick City. The deceased man was found on Tuesday and has been named as James Boyce with the results of the post mortem, carried out at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, supplied to investigating Gardaí but are not being released publicly for operational reasons.

(BMcC/KMcA)