KXMA News, North Dakota

June 21, 2006

Three arrested after protest at missile silo

A peace activist group says a Roman Catholic priest and two military veterans infiltrated a Minuteman Three missile silo site in northwestern North Dakota.

The Wisconsin-based group Nukewatch says the men used sledgehammers and hammers to break a lock and enter the silo site yesterday morning. The group says the men painted the word ``disarm'' on the silo lid and poured some of their blood on the lid.

Minot Air Force Base confirmed that three people "unlawfully entered" the missile site west of Garrison. The base says the men were quickly detained by Air Force security and turned over to local law enforcement officers.

Colonel Sandy Finan -- commander of the 91st Space Wing -- says security at the missile site was never in question.

Nukewatch identified the men involved in the protest as being from Duluth, Minnesota, and St. Louis.