home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
CNN Newsroom: Global View
/
CNN Newsroom: Global View.iso
/
eur
/
uk
/
uk.mi2
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-05-02
|
4KB
|
82 lines
<text>
<title>
United Kingdom: Global Terrorism
</title>
<article>
<hdr>
Patterns Of Global Terrorism: 1991
Western European Overview: United Kingdom
</hdr>
<body>
<p> There were no incidents of international terrorism in the
United Kingdom in 1991. Sectarian violence in Northern Ireland
increased, however, though still short of levels seen in the
1970s. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) again
extended its terrorist campaign to the British mainland but was
largely quiescent on the European continent. Loyalist or
Unionist paramilitary commandos in Northern Ireland
significantly increased their attacks against Catholics in
Ulster and mounted several terrorist operations in Ireland.
</p>
<p> In 1991, 94 people lost their lives in the sectarian
"troubles" in Northern Ireland, as compared with 76 in 1990 and
some 60 in 1989. The increase is attributable to attacks by
Protestant Loyalists who doubled the number of their victims in
1991. The Loyalists observed a cease-fire during the so-called
Strand talks aimed at achieving some accommodation between the
Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland, but
they sharply increased their attacks when those talks broke down
in July.
</p>
<p> Outside Northern Ireland, PIRA mounted several attacks in
England, including a mortar attack there that nearly hit a
Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in February. Two powerful
bombs were aimed at military band concerts near London but
resulted in the deaths of two PIRA bomb handlers instead. One
civilian, however, was killed by a PIRA bomb on a London subway
train in February. He was PIRA's only fatal victim outside
Ulster in 1991, as compared with six killings by PIRA outside
Ulster in 1990. Loyalist terrorists from Ulster were responsible
for more than a dozen firebombings in Dublin in 1991 and killed
a pro-PIRA Sinn Fein counselor in Ireland in May. Throughout the
year, but particularly in December, PIRA planted scores of
incendiary devices in commercial establishments and subway
trains in London and other English cities--and threatened
other assaults--in a campaign to cause damage and economic
disruption during the busy pre-Christmas shopping period.
</p>
<p> Convictions brought in 1976 in English courts against seven
members of the Maguire family for a PIRA bombing campaign were
overturned in June owing to serious procedural errors. In March,
the Birmingham Six, also PIRA suspects, were released from
prison, as had been the Guilford Four in October 1990. The Home
Secretary appointed a royal commission to review the legal
system in light of these false imprisonment. PIRA member Desmond
Ellis, extradited from Ireland in 1990 to stand trial for a 1981
PIRA bombing campaign in Britain, was acquitted of all charges.
</p>
<p> John McCarthy, Jackie Mann, and Terry Waite, held hostage in
Lebanon, were released in 1991. For the most part, author Salman
Rushdie remained in hiding in Britain, however, as Iran's death
threats against him continued in force. Rushdie did travel to
New York City in December to deliver a speech at Columbia
University; this was his first international travel since the
death threats were made in 1989.
</p>
<p> At the start of the Persian Gulf war, Britain detained about
90 Iraqis and Palestinians as a security precaution, deporting
many of them.
</p>
<p> On 14 November the Lord Advocate of Scotland brought formal
charges against two Libyan intelligence officers, Abdel Basset
Ali Al-Megrahi and Lamen Khalifa Fhimah, for the bombing in 1988
of Pan American Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Britain,
along with the United States, formally demanded their surrender
by Libya.
</p>
<p>Source: United States Department of State, April 1992.
</p>
</body>
</article>
</text>