Bomb Blasts in Northern England City Kill 1, Injure 40 : Violence: 4-year-old dies as explosions hit crowded shopping center in Warrington. Police blame IRA.

A 4-year-old boy was killed and more than 40 people were injured Saturday when two bombs were set off at a crowded shopping center in Warrington, a city in northern England.

Many of the wounded were buying presents for Mother’s Day, which in Britain is observed today.

Some shocked shoppers fleeing from the first explosion in a trash can in front of a drugstore ran into a second blast a minute later in a litter bin outside a popular McDonald’s.

Police attributed the blasts to the Irish Republican Army, which has been conducting a campaign of terror bombings in English cities.

Prime Minister John Major declared after the noontime blasts: “I was shocked to hear of the explosions in the center of Warrington. The wickedness of this act defies belief. The purpose was to kill and to maim. Tragically, that is what happened.

“News of this latest attack on men, women and children going innocently about their business on a spring Saturday will be met everywhere with sorrow and revulsion.”

Warrington, which lies between Liverpool and Manchester, was the scene of an IRA bomb attack at a gas works last month. A policeman was shot and two suspected members of the IRA were arrested.

Warrington police said late Saturday that the bombings may have been in reprisal for the arrests of the men after last month’s attack.

The entire city was sealed off Saturday as bomb disposal teams searched for further devices.

Local newspaper photographer Michael Bowden saw the attack. “I was just coming round the corner where the first explosion took place,” he said. “There was an almighty bang and I could see paper everywhere like confetti.

“People were staggering around dazed. People shouted: ‘Get away, get away!’ They ran up the street to get away--straight into the path of the blast in a litter bin. People were just lying everywhere. It was unbelievable.”

Another witness, Ian Rylance, said the second explosion blew a cast-iron litter bin almost 30 feet into the air.

“It was right outside McDonald’s, where a lot of kids hang out. It would have been very crowded with a lot of young people,” he said.

Ron Riley, a former soldier, said he attended a woman in her 20s who was bleeding badly. “She must have lost at least four pints,” he reported. “I had to get into the ambulance with her and grasp her artery. It was a bloody massacre.”

Another former soldier said he saw a child in a store doorway, “A little boy with blond hair. He looked angelic but he was obviously dead because he didn’t have a stomach.”

He added: “A woman in her early 40s was with her husband, who was holding their daughter. The mother had very, very bad leg injuries. The blood was spurting everywhere. I just stuck my hands in and compressed it as much as I could.”

A fleet of 17 ambulances was mobilized to remove the wounded.

Warrington member of Parliament Mike Hall said: “This was a cowardly attack on the busiest day of the week and on the day before Mother’s Day. The outrage felt in the town is quite obvious.”