Belfast blast injures several
June 21, 1997
Web posted at: 12:49 p.m. EDT (1649 GMT)
BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- An explosion, apparently from a car bomb, rocked south-central Belfast on Saturday, injuring several people, police and emergency officials said.
Police said the number of casualties stood at "single digits" and so far there had been no reported deaths. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mid-afternoon blast.
A fire crew extinguished a blazing roadside car which evidently contained a bomb. The blast knocked out window glass on both sides of the street.
Police and soldiers sealed off Claremont Street, midway between City Hospital and Queen's University, in a religiously mixed part of south Belfast.
The explosion occurred during a tense weekend in Northern Ireland after British Prime Minister Tony Blair was sternly critical of the Irish Republican Army murder last Monday of two Northern Ireland policemen.
He said the killings were staged at the very moment that Britain was exploring ways to bring the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein, into Belfast peace talks from which it is excluded because of continuing IRA violence.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
- Newsmaker Profile: Gerry Adams - Sinn Fein President
Related stories:
- IRA kills 2 policemen in Northern Ireland - June 16, 1997
- Peace talks resume in Northern Ireland - June 3, 1997
- Sinn Fein, British reopen contact as N. Ireland votes - May 21, 1997
- Sinn Fein's new MPs want office in House of Commons - May 13, 1997
Related sites:
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- Royal Ulster Constabulary - the police force of Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland Information Centre
- Northern Ireland Government Home Page
- Sinn Fein - Home Page
- An Phoblacht/Republican News
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