RIRA 'claims' N Ireland attack

RIRA 'claims' N Ireland attackThe police said the attackers shot some of the victims at close range [AFP]A dissident Irish republican group has reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack on an army base in Northern Ireland that killed two soldiers and left four other people injured.The Sunday Tribune newspaper said that one of its reporters received a telephone call from a purported spokesman of the Real IRA, which says it is fighting to end British rule in the province.Suzanne Breen, the chief Northern Ireland reporter for the Sunday Tribune, said that the spokesman used a codeword to verify he was from the group before defending Saturday's attack.The attackers opened fire on a group of British soldiers as they collected pizzas outside the headquarters of the Royal Engineers in Northern Ireland at Massereene, northwest of Belfast. Two of those wounded were pizza delivery men.Breen said the Real IRA spokesman decribed the pizza delivery men as "collaborators with British rule".