Security increased after thwarted attack

? Politicians faced extra security Monday at the Northern Ireland Assembly as they debated their failure to forge a Catholic-Protestant administration – an argument dramatically interrupted last week by a Protestant extremist with a bag full of nail bombs.

Security guards patrolled the manicured lawns of the Stormont government estate and two armed police officers flanked the entrance of Stormont Parliamentary Building, which convicted killer Michael Stone breached on Friday carrying a range of weapons. Two unarmed guards wrestled Stone, 51, to the ground as others evacuated politicians, journalists and civil servants from the building.

British army experts dismantled at least six homemade nail bombs inside a bag Stone carried.

Stone – an icon among anti-Catholic extremists since he carried out a solo grenade-and-gun attack on an IRA funeral in 1988 – was charged Saturday with five counts of attempted murder and possessing weapons for terrorist purposes, including nail bombs, a strangulation device, an ax and a fake handgun.