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Northern Irishman admits to running IRA gun range

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — A Northern Ireland man has pleaded guilty to charges that he helped run an Irish Republican Army firearms training camp and plotted a possible attack on a prison governor.

A Belfast judge said Wednesday he would postpone sentencing 48-year-old Sean Kelly until the trial of three others. Like Kelly, the others were arrested in March 2012 in a County Tyrone forest near the IRA firing range. The three others continue to deny involvement.

Lawyers for Kelly said he would plead guilty to six of 10 charges against him, including possessing a rifle, ammunition and other firearms; involvement in weapons training; and gathering information for a potential gun attack on a prison governor at his home.

While most IRA members renounced violence in 2005, several small breakaway factions remain active.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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