Police Murders Northern Ireland

Masked gunmen shot and killed a former policeman outside a supermarket late Friday, the most serious violent incident to strike Northern Ireland as negotiators seek a solution to the British province's political divisions. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting of Cyril Stewart, 52, a Protestant, in Armagh, 40 miles southwest of Belfast, the provincial capital.

Masked gunmen shot and killed a former policeman outside a supermarket late Friday, the most serious violent incident to strike Northern Ireland as negotiators seek a solution to the British province's political divisions. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting of Cyril Stewart, 52, a Protestant, in Armagh, 40 miles southwest of Belfast, the provincial capital.

A soldier was killed and two were injured Friday in a bomb blast at a security checkpoint on the border with Ireland, police said.

Hundreds of people lined up in the tense, grieving town of Lurgan in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to mourn the terrorist slayings of two policemen. Townsfolk waited patiently under sunny skies to sign condolence books outside the heavily fortified police barracks in Lurgan, where the fault line between Roman Catholics and Protestants runs along the main street. "My blood runs cold at this dreadful act. Deepest sympathy," read one message. Many people just signed their names.

A series of attacks by Irish Republican Army terrorists killed two people and wounded 24 others in a blitz against British-backed security forces in Northern Ireland, police said. What apparently was a land mine blew up a military vehicle in County Tyrone, wounding six part-time soldiers; a bomb exploded under a car in Lisburn, killing a policeman and wounding 18 people, and a gunman killed a part-time soldier in front of his wife and baby daughter in Belfast, police said.

A gunman opened fire on police on a busy downtown shopping street Saturday, killing two officers. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. As shoppers watched, the gunman shot the officers and then fled through the grounds of nearby St. Mary's Catholic Church. The officers had been on duty only yards from a security gate at the junction of Castle Street and Queen Street, one of the busiest shopping areas in Belfast. Witnesses said they heard five shots.

Hundreds of people lined up in the tense, grieving town of Lurgan in Northern Ireland on Tuesday to mourn the terrorist slayings of two policemen. Townsfolk waited patiently under sunny skies to sign condolence books outside the heavily fortified police barracks in Lurgan, where the fault line between Roman Catholics and Protestants runs along the main street. "My blood runs cold at this dreadful act. Deepest sympathy," read one message. Many people just signed their names.

Irish Republican Army assassins shot two police officers walking their beat in a quiet market town in Northern Ireland on Monday, killing them instantly--and with them lingering hopes for an early peace in a bleeding province. "The whole street was in tears," said Brid Rodgers, an official of a moderate Roman Catholic party in Lurgan, a small town near Belfast, where the officers were shot in the head as they patrolled sunny Church Walk near their headquarters.

Irish Republican Army assassins shot two police officers walking their beat in a quiet market town in Northern Ireland on Monday, killing them instantly--and with them lingering hopes for an early peace in a bleeding province. "The whole street was in tears," said Brid Rodgers, an official of a moderate Roman Catholic party in Lurgan, a small town near Belfast, where the officers were shot in the head as they patrolled sunny Church Walk near their headquarters.

A soldier was killed and two were injured Friday in a bomb blast at a security checkpoint on the border with Ireland, police said.

A 1,000-pound bomb detonated by terrorists hiding near a rural road in this border city exploded Tuesday, killing a Roman Catholic nun and three police officers, authorities said. An anonymous caller claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Irish Republican Army in a telephone call late Tuesday to a news organization in Belfast. The caller said the IRA had killed the four people in a "military action" and expressed no regret over the nun's death.

A gunman opened fire on police on a busy downtown shopping street Saturday, killing two officers. The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. As shoppers watched, the gunman shot the officers and then fled through the grounds of nearby St. Mary's Catholic Church. The officers had been on duty only yards from a security gate at the junction of Castle Street and Queen Street, one of the busiest shopping areas in Belfast. Witnesses said they heard five shots.

A car bomb planted by Irish Republican Army guerrillas exploded and killed a senior Northern Ireland policeman as he and his wife set out for church. Supt. Alwyn Harris, 51, died instantly when a booby-trap bomb exploded under his car, police said. His wife was in shock but unhurt after the incident in Lisburn, headquarters of the British army in Northern Ireland. The outlawed IRA claimed responsibility for killing Harris in a statement to Belfast media.