Dr John Reid has agreed to independent monitoring of Northern Ireland's ceasefire.

The Northern Ireland secretary has concluded that external audits of the Good Friday peace process "can only assist in bringing further pressure to bear on those responsible" for continuing sectarian violence.

"I have now concluded that it would be appropriate to put in place arrangements for an independent monitoring of the level of violence in Northern Ireland and the nature of paramilitary involvement in it," he said yesterday.

In talks with the prime minister yesterday, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams warned that the government risked losing its "strategic vision" for Ulster.

Tensions in the province remain high ahead of a key Ulster Unionist Party meeting that will consider a proposal to stop working with Sinn Fein in the devolved executive.

Police said yesterday they had foiled Real IRA bomb attacks by seizing two booby trap devices in an undercover operation.