Britain Warns of Potential Terrorism
Police issued a terrorist alert Tuesday, saying they fear that dissident Irish republicans opposed to the Northern Ireland peace agreement plan a bombing campaign during the holiday season.
News reports said the threat was the most serious since an Irish Republican Army splinter group bombed the Northern Ireland city of Omagh in August 1998, killing 29 people.
“There is a genuine and credible concern about the increased threat of violence not only in Ireland, but also on the British mainland from breakaway renegade groups who are opposed to the Irish peace process,” a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said.
The alert came at a critical time for the British-ruled province’s 1998 peace accord.
A plan mediated this month by U.S. negotiator George J. Mitchell appears finally to have wrung a commitment from the IRA and its political ally, Sinn Fein, that the paramilitary group will gradually disarm, overcoming one of the toughest obstacles to implementing the agreement.
Scotland Yard said extra police patrols were deployed in sensitive areas of the capital--including London’s financial district, Docklands and Westminster, where Parliament and government offices are located.
Security has also been tightened in other major cities.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
