Northern Ireland Police Boost Security Before UK General Election

Northern Ireland police set up road blocks and boosted patrols across the British province on Tuesday in a security operation aimed at countering a "severe" threat from pro-Irish militants before Thursday's general election. Elections have in the past been targeted by "dissident" militants opposed to a 1998 peace deal. Two bombs, which police said were designed to kill or maim, partly exploded outside an army base on Sunday night. Earlier in the weekend, the home of Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Irish nationalist Martin McGuinness, was vandalised with paint bombs. Threats have been made by dissidents against the lives of other members of his Sinn Fein party.