BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Patrick Quinn, the IRA hunger striker whose life was saved when his mother asked doctors to intervene, officially ended his fast Saturday, the republican group Sinn Fein said.
Security forces meanwhile raided an apartment in Londonderry and discovered 14 beer kegs packed with at least 1,000 pounds of explosives.
Quinn had fasted for 47 days July 31 when he slipped into a coma and his mother signed a medical waiver allowing him to be taken to a hospital for treatment. Although he broke his fast in the hospital, there had been no word whether he would rejoin the hunger strike.
'The decision was his -- it was a personal decision and we're happy to support it.' said a spokesman for Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army.
So far, nine imates of Belfast's Maze prison have died since May 5 in the fast.
'Paddy' Quinn, 29, as he is nicknamed, began his hunger strike June 15. He had been arrested with Raymond McCreesh, who died on the hunger strike May 21. Quinn is serving two terms of 14 years and one of five years for attempted murder, possessing explosives and membership of the IRA.
Police said the seizure of the explosives in Londonderry may have foiled a bomb blitz in Northern Ireland's second largest city, 65 miles northwest of Belfast.
The apartment was empty and no arrests were made. Police said the raid was made because they were suspicious about the number of callers tothe building.
The provisional IRA claimed responsibility earlier this month for a one-day spate of bombings across Northern Ireland in which powder-filled beer kegs were used in several of the attacks.
Officials said there was enough explosives hidden in the beer kegs to devastate dozens of surrounding houses. More than 200 people were evacuated from their homes while bomb disposal experts defused the explosives, a police spokesman said.
'This type of device is usually used in pairs and 14 beer kegs would have provided seven powerful bombs, which, if placed strategically throughout the city could have caused widespread damage,' an army bomb disposal expert said.
Another stockpile of explosives was discovered overnight in a house in Lurgan, 20 miles southwest of Belfast. Police found 80 gasoline bombs, 10 gallons of gasoline, 160 empty milk bottles, a roll of barbed wire and a sack of rags cut to be used as wicks, a police spokesman in Belfast said.
