World IN BRIEF : BRITAIN : Government Rebuffs IRA Call for Talks

The British government rebuffed a call for talks with the Irish Republican Army, which is believed to be behind three mortar attacks on Heathrow Airport in the past week. After false bomb warnings shut Heathrow and London’s other major airport, Gatwick, the IRA issued a statement proclaiming its “positive and flexible attitude toward the peace process” and demanding concessions from Britain. However, a spokesman for British Prime Minister John Major said, “It is deeply offensive to people in Ireland and Britain that the IRA should claim to be interested in peace while continuing to kill in cold blood and to mount acts of terrorism.”