STRICT observance of new personal security procedures is believed to have saved the lives of three off duty British soldiers when they were targeted by a powerful booby trap car bomb in Co Down early yesterday morning.
Only one of the three received slight injuries when the bomb tore apart the rear section of their car as they approached it after leaving a night club in Ballynahinch.
The bomb, which is assumed to have been planted under the car by the IRA, may have contained up to 2kg of explosives. One of the three Grenadier Guardsmen had gone ahead of his colleagues and, in accordance with tighter security practices introduced after recent IRA attacks, was checking the car for devices when the bomb exploded.
In spite of heavy damage to the vehicle, he escaped serious injury and was released from hospital after treatment for cuts from flying glass.
The soldiers had left the White Horse Hotel at around 1.30 a.m. to return to their base at Ballykinlar, about 10 miles away.
The RUC Assistant Chief Constable in charge of the Southern Region, Mr Freddy Hall, said yesterday that if the bomb had detonated a few minutes later there might have been many people in the vicinity, as the car park is used by people attending late night social functions in the town.
The incident is believed to have been the first involving the detonation of a booby trap car bomb since the IRA began to intensify its campaign of violence before Christmas.
Loyalist paramilitaries are believed to be responsible for several smaller scale booby trap car bombings since Christmas, one of which injured a senior republican in north Belfast. A Catholic family in Larne, Co Antrim, narrowly escaped injury in another.
Members of the RUC have narrowly escaped death or injury in several mortar bomb attacks in recent weeks. Other planned IRA attacks have been aborted or abandoned.
Meanwhile, five men were arrested by the RUC and held for questioning after the police went to investigate reports of suspicious activity in the main street of Dungiven, a mainly nationalist village in Co Derry, on Saturday night.
Police said a rifle and a device - believed to have been an improvised grenade - were recovered in the area, and there was speculation that an ambush on security forces had been thwarted.
In Antrim, a 22 year old man received neck injuries when a shotgun was fired into a house on the Rathenraw Estate in the early hours of yesterday morning.
In West Belfast, an 18 year old youth received serious leg injuries when he was beaten by four masked men carrying baseball bats and iron bars in an apparent so called punishment attack.
In Newry, Co Down, a 250 seat stand at the grounds of Newry Town Football Club was ruined at the weekend in a fire which is being treated as malicious.
Six windows were smashed in a Catholic church on the outskirts of Newry early yesterday. The incident followed another picket by loyalists outside another church at Harryville, which has been picketed at Mass time every Saturday for 20 weeks.
Up to 100 picketers on Saturday sang Orange songs as Mass goers left the church. A large force of RUC officers was present and there were no incidents.