Northern Ireland Revolts

Three Irish nationals were formally charged Monday with conspiring to murder Britain's secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Tom King. The three, two men and a woman, are believed by the police to be linked to the outlawed Irish Republican Army, which has waged a guerrilla campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland since the 1920s.

Even veterans of the Dublin-Belfast railway, like Sister Marian Taggart, admit to getting a little nervous at times like these, when the line is clearly a priority sabotage target. "There's a certain danger to it," said the Roman Catholic nun, who teaches in the south but regularly takes the train home to the British-ruled north to visit her family. "But what can you do? You're in danger on the road, too."

Paddy McElhinney, 28, wants to believe that peace is at hand for him, his wife, Anne, and their four children. But then the strapping taxi driver is dubious as he recalls that awful Halloween five years ago at the Rising Sun pub. As he sipped a soda and was about to return to his shift in nearby Londonderry, two gunmen burst into the lounge. A third man with a double-barreled shotgun stood watch. One invader yelled "Trick or treat!"

The British and Irish governments Tuesday approved a framework for peace in Northern Ireland that provides a basis for negotiations between all parties, including Roman Catholic and Protestant combatants. The governments appealed to those involved to keep an open mind about the proposals, which will be presented here today.

Sean O'Callaghan is an old-looking 42, his shaggy mustache gray, his trigger finger nicotine-stained as he flits warily through London, a metropolis he grew up believing was the enemy capital. Today, O'Callaghan is a unique and reviled figure in the twilight world of violent Irish nationalism. A killer-turned-informer, he is "most wanted" by the militant Irish Republican Army. He is Judas on the run. "I've no fixed address, no bank account, a cell phone in somebody else's name.

In another long step toward peace in Northern Ireland, British Prime Minister John Major announced here Friday that he accepts the current cease-fire in the troubled province, and he ordered all border crossings opened. The cease-fire now being observed by both sides in the long-running conflict is "intended to be permanent," Major said, and Britain will enter into talks with Sinn Fein, the political arm of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, "before this year is out."

An explosion Saturday ripped through a hospital's tightly guarded military wing, killing two people and injuring 10. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility. A spokeswoman for the Royal Ulster Constabulary said that a bomb made from plastic explosive apparently was placed in an underground corridor connecting the civilian part of Musgrave Park Hospital to the military wing. The blast killed two members of the Royal Army Medical Corps working in an office.

The British soldiers who were killed Wednesday when an Irish Republican Army bomb blew up their van in Northern Ireland apparently failed to follow proper security procedures, British officials said Thursday. The officials indicated that the six soldiers had left their van unguarded while they took part in a long-distance run for charity, then had failed to check the vehicle before driving away. Five of the soldiers were killed instantly and the sixth later died of his wounds.

Yet another Irish republican group declared a cease-fire Saturday amid a wave of revulsion across northern and southern Ireland against a car bomb that killed 28 people here a week ago. The Irish National Liberation Army, a particularly violent group, proclaimed that "armed struggle can never be the only option for revolutionaries."

The Irish Republican Army on Wednesday claimed responsibility for last week's bombing in Manchester, England, which injured more than 200 people. In a statement issued in Dublin, the Irish capital, the IRA said it "sincerely regretted" injuries to civilians. The truck bomb exploded Saturday at a shopping mall in the center of Manchester while police were clearing the area following phone warnings.