Bomb threat shuts major motorway through Belfast on 20th anniversary of landmark IRA truce
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A security alert over a suspected bomb has shut down the main motorway through Belfast, triggering traffic chaos on the 20th anniversary of the Irish Republican Army's cease-fire.
Monday's closure of the M1 motorway forced morning commuters down gridlocked side streets. The disruption continued for several hours as British Army experts using a remote-controlled robot inspected the suspected bomb on a residential street beside the three-lane motorway.
The disruption came two decades after the outlawed Provisional IRA called an open-ended truce following a failed 24-year campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. The Provisionals abandoned their truce in 1996, restored it a year later, and disarmed and formally renounced violence in 2005.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}IRA splinter groups opposed to Northern Ireland's Catholic-Protestant government still mount occasional bombings and shootings.