Police Seize Bomb-Making Materials in London Raid

As low-level violence continued in Northern Ireland on Monday, police in London seized bomb-making materials in a raid that they said thwarted a major terrorist attack.

Spokesmen for London’s anti-terror police said the discovery of components for 36 bombs in four houses in the southern part of the British capital stopped a bombing campaign planned by the outlawed Irish Republican Army against gas, electricity and water supplies--only hours from its scheduled start.

Documents seized in the raid showed that the IRA attacks were “only a matter of hours away” from being carried out against the utility stations and would have caused “grave loss of life” and massive disruptions, said Cmdr. John Grieve, head of the Anti-Terrorist Branch.

Seven men were arrested in the operation, said police, who were hunting Monday night for a suspected cache of as many as 180 pounds of the explosive material Semtex. They said they believe the material was to be used to make small but powerful bombs for attacks on electricity switching stations, water pumping stations and gas plants.

Meanwhile, thousands of Roman Catholics thronged the streets of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, for the funeral of a Catholic man killed Saturday in the sectarian violence that surged a week ago.

Pro-British Protestants had rioted after being blocked from marching through a Catholic neighborhood in an annual parade marking a 17th century Protestant victory over Catholics. When the decision was reversed and the march proceeded, mobs of angry Catholics joined the violence.

Streets throughout the province were relatively quiet Monday. In Belfast, the capital, Catholic nationalists--who oppose British rule and want to join with Ireland--threw about 50 gasoline bombs at a police station, but no one was hurt.

In Downpatrick, where St. Patrick is believed to be buried southeast of Belfast, Catholic rioters threw gasoline bombs at police and burned cars. And three tanker trucks, all empty, were set afire at a fuel depot in Armagh, 35 miles southwest of Belfast.

British and Irish officials planned to resume peace talks on the future of Northern Ireland here today.

The most that can be hoped for, according to one Northern Ireland official, is “to salvage what we can after these last, disastrous days.”