Complex sentence: Since the early 1970s the UVF had carried out many gun and bomb attacks on Catholic-owned pubs and there had been many incidents of collusion between the UVF and members of the state security forces.
Split into simpler sentences: Since the early 1970s the UVF had carried out many gun and bomb attacks on Catholic-owned pubs. During the conflict there was much collusion between the UVF and members of the state security forces.