The World - News from April 17, 1987

The Irish Republican Army, stepping up activities on two fronts, sent two more letter bombs to government figures in England and fired mortar shells at British security forces in Northern Ireland. One letter bomb, found at a South London mail-sorting center, was addressed to Robert Andrew, permanent undersecretary of state at the Northern Ireland Office. The second was discovered by David Hobson, retired adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s policy unit, in mail delivered to his West London home. Two soldiers were slightly wounded in the mortar attack on a British army base at Bessbrook in County Armagh.