Britain Orders More Troops to North Ireland

Britain ordered 600 extra troops to Northern Ireland on Monday as part of its effort to end a sudden surge in political and sectarian killings.

Eight people were killed in Belfast in the last week by gunmen firing into groups of Roman Catholics and Protestants.

Men of the Queen’s Regiment are expected to start arriving later this week to raise the strength of the British army in Ulster above 18,000, highest since the 1970s.

Twenty-six civilians have been killed this year in sectarian shootings and in the guerrilla campaign by the Irish Republican Army to end British rule.

Prime Minister John Major has called urgent talks today with leaders of four Northern Ireland political parties. Sinn Fein, the legal, political wing of the IRA, was excluded because it won’t renounce violence.

Hume was expected to argue that internment might put a few guerrillas behind bars but would be counterproductive politically, increasing support for the IRA.

The IRA said it wants no retaliation against Protestants after a Protestant group killed five Catholics in an attack on a betting shop last week.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said retaliatory actions “have no part in any struggle which claims to be republican.”

Despite fears of further revenge killings, few expect effective political action before a British election expected in April or May.