British Naval Officer Feared Killed by Another IRA Bomb

The Irish Republican Army blew up a car Monday in east Belfast, killing a man police believe was a Royal Navy officer only three days after eight British soldiers were slain by a bomb.

Police said the victim, thought to be a 45-year-old recruiting officer, was the only casualty when the bomb exploded and the car burst into flames on a bridge near the downtown district during the Monday afternoon rush hour.

The outlawed IRA, which has focused its campaign of violence on the British security forces, claimed responsibility in a telephone call to a Northern Ireland radio station.

The bomb exploded as the victim drove over the Queens Bridge.

Three people were treated for shock at a nearby hospital.

The IRA is fighting to drive the British from Protestant-dominated Northern Ireland and unite the province with the Irish Republic, which is 95% Roman Catholic.

Eight soldiers were killed and 28 wounded Saturday when an IRA bomb wrecked a military bus.

In London, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said Monday that detention without trial of people suspected of guerrilla activity has not been ruled out.

Ken Maginnis, a Protestant member of Parliament from Northern Ireland who urged Thatcher to reinstate the policy, said he gave her the names of three IRA men he claimed were involved in the Saturday bombing.

A letter bomb was sent to Maginnis last week but was defused. He claimed that internment of 50 to 70 “top flight” IRA organizers would “drastically reduce” violence in Northern Ireland.

Thatcher ordered a security review after the bombing Saturday, which was the deadliest IRA attack on the military since 1982. The attack brought to 26 the number of soldiers killed so far this year in the IRA blitz against British military targets in the province, mainland Britain and continental Europe.