2 Blasts Disrupt Traffic in Britain

Two bombs blew up along a major highway in central England on Friday in what appeared to be the latest Irish guerrilla attempt to disrupt Britain’s general election campaign.

Police had closed parts of the M6 highway after receiving coded warnings. The two devices exploded near a section of the road north of the city of Birmingham.

There were no reports of casualties.

One blast damaged an electricity line pylon. Bomb disposal experts also carried out controlled explosions to disable another device near the pylon and one at Luton airport, 30 miles northwest of London.

Police also evacuated the main railway station in Birmingham and the airport at Luton.

Meanwhile, Britain issued guidelines for election officials on how to respond to any attempt by guerrillas to disrupt its May 1 election.

Officers in charge of running the election in each of Britain’s constituencies were told to agree to a security plan with police. This may include advance searches of polling sites and even searches of some voters’ bags, officials said.

Britain’s Interior Ministry said the security guidelines had been issued in response to requests from election officials.