The World : Soldiers Kill 3 From IRA

Soldiers in Northern Ireland fatally shot three armed men in a car, a few miles from the spot where an IRA bomb on a bus left 8 British soldiers dead and 27 others hurt Aug. 20. “The incident occurred when soldiers encountered armed men in a vehicle and opened fire,” a police spokesman said. Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army’s legal political wing, issued a statement saying the shooting victims were IRA members Brian Mullen and brothers Gerard and Martin Harte. One of Mullen’s brothers was held for questioning after the bus bombing but released without charge. The shooting in Omagh, 50 miles west of Belfast, was seen as part of a stepped-up British response to the IRA’s summer campaign against the army and police, a campaign that has killed 27 members of the security forces.