N. Ireland's Deadliest Bombing
A car bomb tore apart the center of a bustling market town Saturday, killing at least 28 people and injuring more than 200 in the deadliest attack in three decades of conflict in Northern Ireland.
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It wasn't. The very street where people were herded for protection turned out to be the site of a powerful bomb - a killing field. Eyewitness said there were bodies everywhere - men, women and children - people screaming and crying, looking for relatives and friends.
"I looked over and the smoke was rising," said Frank Pancott, one of the volunteers who rushed to rescue survivors. "They're terrorists. You can't call them animals. Animals wouldn't do that to anybody. This is pure scum."
No one has claimed responsiblity for the bombing, which occurred on the 29th anniversary of the deployment of British troops to Northern Ireland, a move which prompted the founding of the Irish Republican Army and triggered three decades of protestant and catholic clashes.
Ireland's Prime Minister Bertie Ahern blames the latest attack on extremists.
"This is the most evil deed in years," he said. "This is the dissident Reublican group who have been endeavoring to carry out other acts."
While investigators searched for clues, British prime minister Tony Blair vowed the attack will not deter the peace agreement, which was approved by Protestant and Catholic voters earlier this year.
"I can barely express the sense of grief I feel for the victims of this appalling, evil act of savagery," he said. "These people mustn't be be allowed to succeed.".
The attack comes just two weeks before president Clinton's planned visit to Northern Ireland, to salute the fragile peace process.
The White House condemned the bombing and said it would not change President Clinton's planned visit.
"Clearly the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland have chosen a path toward peace. Violence has no place in that process," White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
A series of similar car bomb attacks have been claimed by or blamed on Irish Republican Army dissidents opposed to the outlawed group's July 197 cease-fire.
The previous most deadly bombing in Northern Ireland was in October 1993, when an IRA bomb in Belfast killed nine Protestant civilians and one of the bombers. The worst single toll from a bomb attack in the British-ruled province occurred in August 1979, when two IRA bombs killed 18 soldiers.
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