Convert a VARCHAR into XML that contains reserved characters

Basically I am trying to split a string based on delimiter. Below is partial code -

DECLARE @Str VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @delimiter CHAR(3)
DECLARE @xmlPD xml

SET @delimiter = '~~~'
SET @Str = 'abc~~~I&IK blah blah'
SET @xmlPD = CAST(('<X>'+REPLACE(@Str, @delimiter, '</X><X>')+'</X>') AS XML)

The problem is as @Str contains & very last line is throwing below error.

Msg 9411, Level 16, State 1, Line 8
XML parsing: line 1, character 18, semicolon expected

How can I handle this scenario.

NOTE:

• 
  

  I will insert the splitted data into a table. So, I have to insert & as & not &.

  
  


• 
  

  @Str may contain & as well as &

  
  


• 
  

  We are using SQL-SERVER 2005