Letter Bombs Sent to Aides of Thatcher, Don’t Explode

Letter bombs have been sent to two of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s aides but neither exploded, police said today.

The first was opened by the wife of chief press spokesman Bernard Ingham when it was delivered to their home in the midday mail, police said. She saw a book covered with tape and placed it outside the door before calling for help.

A second device was sent to Brian Unwin, a deputy secretary in the Cabinet Office, which coordinates day-to-day government affairs.

The package addressed to Ingham bore the words “University of Ulster,” according to his wife, Nancy, which suggested a possible link with Northern Ireland where Irish nationalist guerrillas are fighting to end British rule.

A police spokesman said both packages were identical and described them as “viable” but refused to go into further details.

He said explosives experts and members of the anti-terrorist squad were called to the scenes to defuse the bombs.

Security has been tight around Thatcher and senior members of her government since an IRA bomb in October, 1984, shattered the Brighton Hotel, where the prime minister and a number of colleagues were staying.

Five people were killed and 33 others injured in the blast.