THE IRA has admitted leaving a van rigged with a defused landmine in west Belfast. It was abandoned in the Poleglass Estate on Saturday night. British army bomb experts yesterday carried out a controlled explosion on a command wire near the vehicle.
The RUC said that 500 kg of homemade explosives had been packed into two bins in the van. The incident has shocked observers who believed that a de facto IRA ceasefire was in place until after the general election in the Republic.
However, hardline republican sources last night remained sceptical that the incident meant a return to violence by the Provisionals. "It could well be just another of these phoney operations to satisfy grassroots and get militants off the leadership's back," a source said.
Local people and Sinn Fein have criticised the RUC for not cordoning off the area around the van for several hours. Children later set the vehicle on fire. The RUC said that fear of an IRA ambush prompted them to stay away.
The IRA said it had made the device safe before abandoning it due to "civilian activity in the area". But the RUC Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Bill Stewart, said: "The IRA abandoned the van in a Catholic area and then made a threatening telephone call, so while one evil offspring of the republican movement leaves an alleged landmine, its sister organisation has the gall to attempt to put the blame on the RUC."
The bomb attempt was the first IRA action since the shooting of Constable Alice Collins in Derry on April 10th.
The Catholic Primate, Archbishop Sean Brady, yesterday called on the IRA to renew its ceasefire and said that if violence ended, there should be a quick entry into talks for republicans.
"People are genuine in their search for peace and the only way to peace is through negotiations. We are trying to win people away from the arms and the rifles to the negotiating table and the democratic process," he said.
The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, the Right Rev Dr Harry Allen also called on both loyalists and republicans to abandon violence.
A concussed man and three others injured after a group of men attacked them with baseball bats and a hammer in a nationalist part of north Belfast yesterday, were taken to hospital. The RUC declined to say it was a paramilitary style attack but said they were investigating all motives.