Prominent republican Colin Duffy is due in court today charged with killing two British soldiers in Antrim.

The 41-year-old Lurgan man is facing two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, as well as possession of a firearm and ammunition with intent to endanger life when he appears at Larne Magistrates Court.

Royal Engineers, Sappers Patrick Azimkar (21) and Mark Quinsey (23), were gunned down as they collected pizzas at the gates of Massereene Army Barracks on March 7.

Five others, including two pizza delivery men, were seriously wounded in the Real IRA attack.

Duffy was dramatically re-arrested at Antrim serious crime suite on Wednesday, minutes after a High Court judge ruled that six suspects being detained over the soldiers’ deaths and the shooting of police constable Stephen Carroll should be released.

Duffy and five other suspects who applied for the judicial review had been held since March 14, and last weekend a judge granted a police application to have their detention extended for a further seven days.

However, Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr quashed the original ruling.

Earlier this week former Sinn Fein councillor Brendan McConville and a 17-year-old youth were remanded in custody charged with Constable Carroll’s murder.

Another 21-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, also appeared in court in Lisburn yesterday accused of withholding information in relation to that murder.