Sorting offices on high alert after firebombs
BRITISH sorting offices and transport hubs are on high alert as counter terror police hunted for the sender of three suspected firebombs and other suspicious parcels.
Scares throughout Britain yesterday included Glasgow University and Essex University, Colchester, and even Parliament in Westminster where a “suspicious item” was investigated. The RBS building in Edinburgh was evacuated.
The day before, packages posted with Irish stamps and Dublin the return address arrived at Waterloo railway station, Heathrow offices and London City airport. No one was injured and no arrests made.
It sparked major fears of a return to the IRA bombing campaigns of the Troubles and the possibility that more explosive packages are in circulation ready for delivery.
Scotland Yard said last night the one in Glasgow was linked to those in London.
Despite the widespread disruption a former British military intelligence officer - with extensive knowledge of Northern Irish terrorism, said: “There can be very little doubt this was a dissident IRA splinter group, probably the New IRA inspired by techniques from back in the 1980s.”
The New IRA is the name given to a grouping of dissident republicans from a number of paramilitary groups who have come together in recent years.
As well as the New IRA, another splinter group being led by a 22-year-old man with connections in South Armagh and Derry are also among the top suspects.
A security source said: “Gardai [Irish police] and British security forces are very