IRA Bomb Kills Ulster Protestant

A bomb believed to have been planted by the Irish Republican Army killed a member of a Protestant militia on Tuesday, and Protestant mobs stoned or firebombed the homes of seven policemen.

William Pollock, 27, was killed by a bomb planted on his utility trailer. Police said the bomb exploded as he hitched the trailer to his car near Castlederg, three miles from the western border with the Irish Republic.

Pollock was a farmer and part-time member of the Ulster Defense Regiment, a locally recruited Protestant militia frequently attacked by the IRA. He was the fourth regiment member to have been killed this year.

The IRA, which has been outlawed both in the republic and in Northern Ireland, is fighting to unite this predominantly Protestant British province, often called Ulster, with the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic republic.

The killing came as Protestant militants continued their own campaign of violence against the province’s mainly Protestant police force--the 8,500-member Royal Ulster Constabulary. The extremists are trying to undermine an accord signed last November by Britain and Ireland, which gives the Irish Republic a consultative role in running Northern Ireland.

Police said seven policemen’s homes were stoned or firebombed, but no casualties were reported.

In the last week, 140 officers were threatened or their houses attacked, and 18 of them were forced to flee their homes, police said.

Meanwhile, in London, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told Parliament, “We must carry on with the Anglo-Irish accord and do our best to restore peace and stability in the province.”