3rd IRA Bomb Found in London, Defused by Police

Police on Sunday defused an IRA bomb at a train station, the third discovered in this capital in 48 hours. Two other devices planted by the outlawed group exploded on Friday and Saturday, injuring 29 people.

The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility Sunday for planting all the bombs as it continued its campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.

In a statement from Belfast, the IRA said it wanted to force the issue onto the political agenda ahead of the British election, which must be held by July, and vowed to continue the campaign of violence on the British mainland before the balloting.

But Home Secretary Kenneth Baker, the Cabinet minister responsible for law and order, maintained that the IRA will not disrupt the electoral process.

“The voice of democracy will not be drowned out by the sound of bombs,” he said.

Sunday, a bomb found in a north London train station was defused hours before thousands of fans were expected to arrive for a match at the nearby Tottenham Hotspur soccer ground, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

The bomb was spotted by a British citizen at 9:20 a.m. at British Rail’s White Hart Lane station. A telephone warning was received about an hour later, police said.

Saturday night, a bomb containing about two pounds of explosives went off outside a government prosecutor’s office, slightly injuring a woman, police said.

The IRA earlier claimed responsibility for a bomb that injured 28 commuters at London Bridge Station on Friday morning.