Bomb Planted Near Base in N. Ireland; Labor Party Repeats Call for IRA Truce
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Security forces found a 1,000-pound bomb near a British army base Saturday and suspect it was planted by the Irish Republican Army to grab headlines ahead of British elections.
The device was found on a road between Clough and Ballykinlar, site of a major British army base in County Down, southeast of Belfast.
It was left by the roadside in an apparently aborted attempt to blow up passing security force vehicles. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the attempt bore the hallmarks of the IRA, which is fighting to end British rule and unite Northern Ireland with the Irish republic.
The IRA is ignoring appeals by the governments of Britain, Ireland and the United States to call a truce in order to get its political wing, Sinn Fein, into peace talks.
Britain’s opposition Labor Party, which could assume responsibility for troubled Northern Ireland if it wins a general election on May 1, repeated the call Saturday.
Labor’s spokeswoman on Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that, if the IRA called an immediate truce, Sinn Fein could take part in Belfast peace talks set to resume June 3.
She said such a truce would have to be called “pretty speedily†to allow time for the British government to verify the cease-fire.
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