ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602130081
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
A powerful bomb exploded beneath an office building in London on Friday, injuring at least 36 people and threatening to derail U.S.-brokered peace talks over Northern Ireland.
The bomb in an underground parking garage in a London business district detonated about an hour after the outlawed Irish Republican Army announced it was ending a 17-month cease-fire in its guerrilla war against Britain, which rules Northern Ireland.
The IRA did not claim responsibility for the blast, but both U.S. and British officials said they suspected the group planted the bomb as the first step in a new terrorist offensive.
Minutes before the bomb exploded, Gerry Adams, president of the IRA's political arm, called the White House to warn that ``disturbing news'' was on the way.
No deaths were reported in the explosion, which occurred at 7:01 p.m. (2:01 p.m. EST) about four miles east of the city's center as commuters were still leaving their offices. People with blood streaming from wounds ran out of offices and pubs, some collapsing on the sidewalks, news agencies reported.
The blast, which could be heard up to four miles away, went off in a section of the city called the Isle of Dogs, an eye-catching area of futuristic-looking high-rise office and residential buildings.
Authorities said the bomb was planted under South Quay Plaza, a six-story office building, which partly collapsed.
The blast also blew doors off nearby residences, damaged cars and shattered windows of high-rises, sending showers of glass down onto workers headed home for the weekend.
Police said two people were critically injured, at least four were seriously hurt and at least 30 suffered minor injuries. Among the injured were three police officers and a 5-year-old girl. Many were suffering from eye and facial injuries.
Most of those hurt were workers in the building where the blast occurred.
Police, fearing another blast, sealed off the area and cleared the roads as rescue teams arrived.
``It was a deafening noise,'' said Steve Holmes, a pub proprietor close to the blast. ``All the windows came in, and the ceiling fell down. Everyone just flung themselves to the floor.''
About 6 p.m., the state-owned RTE radio network in Ireland and the Belfast Telegraph newspaper had received a warning, coded in a traditional way to authenticate its IRA source, saying the cease-fire was over. The caller told the newspaper that a bomb would go off at a commuter light-rail station at the Docklands area along the Thames River at the eastern edge of greater London.
The IRA blamed British intransigence in the peace talks for its decision. The talks, which began in 1993, have stalled during the last six months over British Prime Minister John Major's insistence that the IRA give up its weapons as a precondition to full-scale negotiations.
``Instead of embracing the peace process, the British government acted in bad faith,'' the IRA statement charged. ``Time and time again over the last 18 months, selfish party, political and sectional interests in the London Parliament have been placed before the rights of the people of Ireland.''
President Clinton, Major and Irish Prime Minister John Bruton all condemned the bombing.
Adams appealed for calm, saying, ``My response to tonight's news is one of sadness. All those who made genuine efforts to build the peace process must keep their nerve.''
However, he did not explicitly condemn the bombing, even though National Security Adviser Anthony Lake asked him to do so, according to a U.S. official. In a statement Adams echoed the IRA in blaming Major for the situation.
``I regret that an unprecedented opportunity for peace has foundered on the refusal of the British government and the unionist [pro-British Protestant] leaders to enter into dialogue and substantive negotiations.''
The New York Daily News and The Washington Post contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Police seal off the area around the explosion inby CNBthe Isle of Dogs, a London business and media district. 2. The bomb
exploded in an underground parking garage under this office
building, causing its partial collapse. color.