IRA link to FARC bomb is probed

national | miscellaneous | news report Friday February 14, 2003 11:43 by Robby - RN rob_s57 at hotmail dot com Dungannon

Minister claims help went to rebels

IRA expertise is suspected of playing a key role in a huge car bomb that killed 35 people last week in Colombia's capital, the country's Defence Minister has said.

The device that wrecked a crowded Bogota social club, wounding more than 160 people and leaving six children among the dead, was "something more sophisticated than we have seen in the past," Defence Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez said in Washington this week.

She said Colombian authorities, who are being aided in their investigation by American explosives experts, believe FARC rebels built the bomb with the help of the technology from the IRA or the Basque group ETA.

The Colombian government believes all three groups have formed a network to exchange information about weapons and tactics.

Ms Ramirez's accusation comes as a detailed comparison of IRA and FARC weapons was reportedly presented by Colombian intelligence to the trial of IRA suspects James Monaghan, Niall Connolly and Martin McCauley.

The intelligence dossier says FARC has developed a range of home-made mortars made from gas cylinders over the past five years.

The devices bear a strong resemblance to mortars and other devices developed by the IRA.

Last year, FARC used IRA-style mortars in an attack on a church in Choco, Colombia, that killed 119 people.

The dossier also claims the use of improvised devices has increased since Monaghan, Connolly and McCauley visited a rebel-held area of the country in 2001.

Monaghan, who sat on the Sinn Fein executive with Gerry Adams and was named in Parliament as the IRA's director of engineering; Connolly, an acknowledged Sinn Fein member; and McCauley, who was once shot by the RUC near an IRA weapons' hide, deny the charges.

As well as the mortars, FARC terrorists have used a detonation system that resembles one developed by the IRA to set off bombs in spite of security force jamming equipment.

"The IRA involvement has been deadly for our troops, because the FARC's ability has taken a massive leap forward in just a few years," a member of Colombia's security forces told The Times earlier this week.

The three Irishmen vehemently deny any connection to terrorism, saying they were studying the Colombian peace process.

Their supporters allege they will not get a fair trial, citing military dirty tricks, shortcomings in the the Colombian investigative process and pre-trial speculation.