Royal Welsh Fusiliers due to pull out of the North in January

05/12/2005 - 18:08:52
It has been announced that the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, based on the south Armagh border, will leave the North in the middle of January.

British troop numbers in the North are to be cut to a 30-year low in 2006 as the paramilitary threat diminishes.

It will mean the number of soldiers will fall below 9,000, lower than at any time since the early 1970's.

For the first time since the Troubles began, only troops in battalions no rmally resident in the North will be serving there.