BELFAST (Reuters) - British army helicopters will fly again to the metal watchtowers of Northern Ireland's ``bandit country'' on Thursday -- only they will be carrying angle grinders and wire cutters rather than military supplies.The dismantling of army observation posts in south Armagh along the border with the Irish Republic is Britain's rapid response to the IRA's unprecedented announcement on Tuesday that it had started to disarm.
The move by the Catholic-backed IRA, which has been fighting for unification with the Irish Republic, has brought new impetus to Northern Ireland peace hopes. (Read photo caption)
Thousands of people have died in the violence between the IRA and Protestant militias seeking to retain the province's ties with Britain.
For decades the scaffolding watchtowers, bristling with high tech cameras, antennae and razor wire, served as the British army's eyes and ears in an area long seen as a hotbed of Irish Republican Army activity.
A picturesque region of rolling hills and shimmering lakes, it earned its sinister nickname from the IRA snipers who lay in wait behind the hedgerows for British troops and policemen.
So feared were the hidden republican gunmen that troops could only travel by helicopter.
But when the IRA announced on Tuesday it had started to disarm, the process of ``normalizing'' Northern Ireland began almost immediately.
Within 24 hours, soldiers armed with blowtorches started to pull down two towers, one perched atop Camlough mountain, the other on nearby Sturgan mountain.
And on Thursday, TV crews and reporters are expected to be invited to witness at close hand the demolition of more security installations in the region.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams listens to Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern during a news conference outside the government buildings in Dublin, October 24, 2001. Britain's Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid said work was starting to demolish four key security installations in the province in the wake of the IRA's decision to disarm. (Paul McErlane/Reuters)