
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994                   TAG: 9403140143
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Short

BOMB THREATS CLOSE LONDON'S MAJOR AIRPORTS

New bomb threats prompted authorities to close London's two major airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, for two hours Sunday night - just hours after the third mortar attack on Heathrow in five days.

Scotland Yard said no explosives were found after the last warnings, which it called a "cynical ploy by the IRA to cause unnecessary confusion and fear amongst the public."

In all, 12 mortar shells have been fired at Heathrow since Wednesday, all failing to explode.

On Sunday, one mortar landed on the roof of Terminal Four, used primarily for British Airways international flights, and three others landed nearby.

The Irish Republican Army, which had claimed responsibility for the first attack, issued a statement in Dublin, Ireland, late Sunday:

"The luck of the British authorities who are deliberately taking these calculated and cynical gambles with peoples' lives will inevitably run out," it said. "Our coded warnings should be heeded."

- Associated Press

by CNB