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IRA claims responsibility for blast
The Washington Post
LONDON-The Irish Republican Army acknowl-
edged responsibility yesterday for a bomb that ripped
apart a London double-decker bus in what police said
was a premature explosion as the device was being
transported to another destination.
The blast Sunday night killed one person and in-
jured eight, one of whom was put under police guard
as a possible suspect. Police made two other arrests in
south London yesterday in connection with the bomb-
ing but did not immediately file formal charges.
The third IRA bomb in 10 days - one killed three
people and injured dozens at London's Docklands
development, the other was deactivated by police after
en IRA warning - underscored earlier police warn-
ings that the organization is planning a sustained, high-
profile terror campaign in the wake of its Feb. 9
announcement ending its 18-month-old cease-fire.
If the last two bombs are indicative, the campaign
is aimed in part at hurting Britain economically by
scaring away tourists. The bomb deactivated Thurs-
day was preceded by a warning and was discovered
in a phone booth in the city's theater district. While
the intended destination of Sunday night's explo-
sive was unknown, the location of the bus-in the
same part of the city-suggested it was bound for
somewhere nearby.
Police also said a weapon was recovered from the
wreckage of the bus, but gave no details, the Associ-
ated Press reported.
Police based their judgment of a premature ex-
plosion in part on the absence of the usual advance
coded warning from the IRA. Similar blunders by
terrorists were regular occurrences during the IRA's
previous bombing campaign on mainland Britain,
which continued from the early 1980s right up until
the Aug. 31, 1994, cease-fire declaration.
In yesterday's coded phone call to the British
Broadcasting Corp. in Belfast claiming responsibility for
the blast, the unnamed IRA spokesperson also said, "We
can say at this stage that we regret the loss of life and
injuries that occurred."
Sunday's explosion also underscored the difficul-
ties authorities confront in preventing the terrorism.
While they can conduct searches at government build-
ings and airports, and stop cars at checkpoints - all
of which they have resumed doing since Feb. 9 -
there is no way to screen the 3 million people who
ride the buses here daily, most of them carrying
briefcases or parcels.
The IRA -- whose membership is largely Catholic
and which has as its goal the ouster of the British from
Northern Ireland - is based both in the North and in
the Republic of Ireland. It appears, at least for the
moment, that it is avoiding attacks in Northern Ireland,
possibly to avert retaliatory strikes from Protestant
paramilitary organizations.
AP P
Monday's bus explosion in London
killed one person and injured nine.
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The Washington Post
MANCHESTER, N.H. -The New
Hampshire Republican primary cam-
paign drew to a close yesterday on a
mostly negative note, much as it has
been carried out for the past week.
Former Tennessee Gov. Lamar
Alexander accused Senate Majority
leader Bob Dole (Kan.) of hiding from
the voters and offering negative at-
tacks in place of fresh ideas, while TV
commentator Patrick Buchanan con-
demned Dole for trying to "win ugly"
here rather than debating the issues.
Dole defended his own advertising,
but even he seemed weary of the tone
of the campaign. "Hopefully tomor-
row will be the end of that cycle and
we'll move on to something else," he
said on PBS's "Newshour With Jim
Lehrer," in remarks that echoed the
view of voters here.
"I wish I heard from them more
about what they would do. I mean,
concrete proposals, about taking us
into the next century," said Mary
Mann, a homemaker from Manches-
ter who said she wasn't sure whom
she would vote for. "It is really frus-
trating. You hear the ads, you read the
papers and watch TV, but you don't
understand exactly what they'll do. I
think a lot of voters are frustrated.
We're trying to make a decision, but
I don't know if we have enough infor-
_Campaigen
96
'#
.. ,~
mation to do it."
Voters here are proud of their first-
in-the-nation primary and take their
role seriously, putting candidates
through their paces in public forums.
But the character of this campaign
has been unlike those in past years,
when candidates spent much of their
time fielding questions in face-to-face
meetings with small groups.
This year the voters have found
themselves more props than inquisi-
tors, crushed beneath swarming
hordes of reporters, photographers and
television cameras. The candidates
have substituted negative ads for per-
sonal appearances and staged events
for joint forums, leaving the voters
less involved in the campaign dia-
logue than ever before. That may be
one reason why there are so many
undecided voters here, whose collec-
tive decisions are likely to determine
tomorrow's outcome.
In their final messages to voters,
the front-runners, now in a three-way
standoff, offered reasons to choose
them. Dole called on New Hampshire
Republicans to embrace what he called
his brand of mainstream conserva-
tism and send him out of the Granite
State with the boost he wants to push
him toward the nomination.
Leading a torchlight parade in the
small town of Milford last night, he
spoke of how his World War II inju-
ries have made him a more "sensi-
sought to convince voters that he is
the Republican best equipped to de-
feat President Clinton.
"We're supposed to be nominating
somebody who's going to stand up
there with Bill Clinton, paint a pic-
ture of the future based upon our
principles that is brighter and more
compelling than whatever Clinton
comes up with based on whatever he
tive" person.
"I'm not perfect,
but I'm essen-
tially a caring
person and I care
about America,"
Dole said. When
he finished, a
fireworks dis-
play lit up the
sky.
Alexandervis-
ited a doughnut
shop, spoke at
Phillips Exeter
Academy and
then wrapped up
his walk across
the state, which
"We'r-e
supposed to be
nominating
somebody who's
going to stand up
there with Bill
Clinton. "
- Lamar Alexander
GOP presidential candidate
woke up believ-
ing that day,"
Alexander said.
"How are we
going to know
what Sen. Dole's
ideas are if he
won't tell us?
How could he
have gotten to this
point in his career
and not have one
fresh idea about
where to take this
country as. we
move into the
next century?"
Buchanan,
Serb
greneral
snubs
NATO
The Washington Post
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Bosnian Serb military authorities
snubbedl a key NATO meeting yester-
day in spite of pledges made on their
behalf Sunday to adhere to all aspects
of the Dayton peace accord.
The public absence of Maj. Gen.
Zdravko Tolimir, the Bosnian Seb
deputy commander, was seen as an ai
front to the Bosnian peace process an
a reneging on assurances given in Rome
only 24 hours earlier by the president of
Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic. Although
anothermeeting was swiftly scheduled,
Tolimir's no-show demonstrated again
the difficulty in moving from diplo-
maticaccords, in which Milosevic ne-
gotiates for the Bosnian Serbs, to
progress on the ground in Bosnia, where
the Bosnian Serb military has authori@
of its own.
In a statement, NATO peacekeepers
"strongly urged" the Bosnian Serbs
"to comply immediately" with the
agreement negotiated in November n
Dayton, Ohio, as Milosevic said they
would. The Bosnian Serb republic's
"refusal to participate is a direct con-
travention of the Dayton peace accord
and of the agreements announced in
Rome this weekend," the statement
declared.
Tolimir was to attend critical talks
among the former warring parties in the
Balkans and the highest NATO authori-
ties, designed to end a two-week
Bosnian Serb boycott ofsuch meetings.
The talks took place aboard the USS
George Washington in the Adriatic Sea,
in part to dramatize that the accord was
being respected anew. For that reason,
it was particularly embarrassing th
Tolimir stayed away.
After not showingup forearliertrans-
portation out to the aircraft carrier,
Tolimir attempted late in the day to
arrange a special NATO flight, but the
talks had already concluded, NATO
officials said.
NATO later announced that Tolimir
and the NATO ground troops com-
mander, Lt. Gen. Michael Walker of
Britain,have scheduled a meeting yes-
terday morning in Pale, the See
stronghold east of Sarajevo, to dis-
cuss the Serbs' "willingness to re-
sume full cooperation with" thepeace-
keeping force.
In a briefing aboard the carrier,
NATO's top commander for Bosnia,
U.S. Navy Adm. Leighton Smith Jr.,
called Tolimir's absence "unconscio-
nable" and emphasized that he believes
the "civilian and political leadersh
wanted peace," NATO spokespeoW
said.
The return of the Bosnian Serb mil-
tary leaders to dealings with NATO
was seen as crucial to the emergency
political talks held this weekend in
Rome to shore up support for the Day-
ton accord. The Serb military severed
contact on orders from their commander,
Gen. Ratko Mladic, after the arrest last
month by the Bosnian government of
two Serb officers on suspicion of
volvement in war crimes.
NATO officials, bound by the peace
accord, have refused to acknowledge the
continued strength in Bosnia of Mladic,
who has been indicted on charges of
genocide by the International War Crimes
Tribunal in The Hague.
Tolimir, second in command in the
Bosnian Serb army, refused contact with
NATO for a week but relented just
before the talks in Italy, and met w
Walker in Sarajevo. But Tolimir made
it clear, NATO sources said then, that
future talks remained uncertain.
began last summer, with a short hike
in Portsmouth.
"l believe the choice on Tuesday will
come down to my new ideas vs. Senator
Dole'snegative campaigning," he said.
As he had all weekend, Alexander
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who has been on
the defensive the past few days over
charges that his campaign has at-
tracted extremists, launched a new
radio ad yesterday blaming Dole for
allowing the campaign to end on a
negative note.
"His campaign is making telephone
calls smearing me," Buchanan says
in the ad. "His surrogates are openly
attacking my character. Why is an
old friend doing this?"
Buchanan called Dole "a desperate
man" whose aides said they were
going to "win it ugly" in New H amp-
shire.
Appearing at a lumber mill in Cen-
ter Barnstead, Buchanan stood -
mobbed by camera crews - in front
of a log pile and again denounced
what he said are Washington insiders
like Dole who are selling American
workers out to international trade
agreements.
The conservative commentator
said that while Dole keeps repeating
his negative "mantra" about
Buchanan - that he stands for trade
protectionism and isolationism -it
is Buchanan alone who stands for
"good jobs" and the American
worker.
Alexander may have criticized
Dole for avoiding the voters, but none
of the leading candidates has carried
out an energetic schedule, compared
with past campaigns.
In the last four days, the four
leading candidates, including Steve
Forbes, listed a total of only about
40 events on their schedules, with
Forbes the most vigorous of the
four. It is likely that Clinton, who
visited here Saturday, saw as many
voters that day as the four Republi-
cans did all weekend.
"4
ter,
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Ash Wednesday
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