Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KGB GAVE IRA MOUNTBATTEN BOMB PARTS
Soviet role in murder was payback for agent’s escape
THE KGB helped the IRA murder Lord Mountbatten in return for the terror group’s role in the escape of a Soviet agent, a new book is set to claim.
Ex-royal Military Policeman Graham Yuill says he is bringing the “truth” to light about the 1979 bomb attack in Co Sligo.
In the book he claims the detonator and timing device were supplied by the KGB.
Mr Yuill said the help was “in gratitude for the IRA organising the escape of double agent George Blake from prison before he fled to the Soviet Union”.
AN ex-soldier is set to lift the lid on one of the most notorious assassinations in UK history – that has been shrouded in mystery for 40 years. Doubt has often been cast about Lord Mountbatten’s killing by the IRA on his fishing boat off the west coast of Ireland in 1979.
It has generally been accepted the master bombmaker responsible was trained in Libya and used parts provided by Colonel Muammar Gadaffi’s regime.
But in a new book, an ex-british soldier with close links to Northern Ireland security chiefs claims timing device was supplied by Russia’s KGB. Ex-royal Military Policeman Graham Yuill was the close protection officer for a top Ulster Defence Regiment boss at the time of the attack.
Following the incident, the 64-year-old, from Glasgow, claims the commander told him the truth behind the bombing.
In Operation Toothpick: The Truth behind Lord Mountbatten’s Assassination, Mr Yuill claims his boss said the IRA “had links with the KGB and they supplied all the intricate bomb components including the timer and detonator that killed Mountbatten”.
He added this was “in gratitude for the IRA organising the escape of double agent George Blake from Wormwood Scrubs prison before he fled to the Soviet Union”.
Yuill claims the commander told him Blake “received help from three men he’d met in jail, one of whom was a small-time criminal from Limerick and IRA member”.
Mountbatten’s teenage grandson Nicholas Knatchbull and Paul Maxwell, a local teenager who worked on the boat, were killed alongside the 79-year-old cousin of the Queen.
Three others survived – Timothy Knatchbull, Nicholas’ twin brother and their parents John and Patricia Knatchbull.
Lady Doreen Brabourne – the 83-year-old mother of Mountbatten’s son-in-law – was critically wounded in the blast and died the next day.
The group had just departed Mullaghmore, a small fishing village in Co Sligo, when the bomb went off about 220 yards from shore.
Local resident Brian Mcnulty, who witnessed the explosion, told a local radio station the boat sank “instantly”.
He said the blast produced a large amount of smoke and left those who survived with serious injuries, adding: “They weren’t in any condition to talk to anybody.”
Another witness Peter Mchugh said as soon as the smoke cleared, “there was nothing there, it was white foam – no boat”.
After the attack, the IRA said its operatives had placed a 23kg bomb on board Mountbatten’s Shadow V vessel which was triggered by a remote control.
They also claimed responsibility for the Warrenpoint atrocity that killed 18 British soldiers in Co Down.
In Operation Toothpick, Mr Yuill claims the outcome could have been different.
He added: “I truly believe that had I been allowed to protect Lord Mountbatten, I could have saved his life and the lives of the other people murdered that day.
“I think I could have changed the course of history. I also believe I could have saved the lives of 18 British soldiers who were murdered by the IRA at Warrenpoint on the same day as Lord Mountbatten.
“Although the book focuses on clandestine activities during The Troubles, I’m entirely satisfied, as someone who held the highest security clearance, nothing I’m revealing will break the Official Secrets Act.”