BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Suspected IRA bomb blasts killed one British soldier and wounded seven others Tuesday near the residences of the Catholic and Anglican church leaders in Armagh, 45 miles west of Belfast.
No group immediately took responsibility for the bombings, but the blasts were believed to be an attempt by the Irish Republican Army to embarrass Catholic Cardinal Cahal Daly and the Anglican primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, who are currently on a joint goodwill visit to the United States.
Lance Cpl. Michael Beswick, 21, died ten hours after the explosions from the multiple injuries suffered in the blasts, an army spokesman said. The unmarried Lancashire-born soldier, from the 2nd Battalion of Royal Fusiliers, had joined the army in March 1989.
The bombs exploded less than half a mile from the residences of the Catholic and Anglican church leaders, who are with a group of other leaders attempting to persuade U.S. businessmen to invest in Ireland.
Five soldiers who were on foot patrol near where the blasts occurred about 2 a.m. Tuesday were hospitalized, four of them seriously injured and the fifth described as comfortable, a Royal Ulster Constabulary spokesman said. A police officer and two other soldiers were treated for shock.
Beswick was the most seriously injured soldier. The injuries of the four soldiers remaining in hospital were not thought to be life threatening, the army spokesman said.
'Three devices, each containing 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of explosives, were used,' the RUC spokesman said.
'The first one to be detonated had been placed behind a wall on Cathedral Road. The other two were placedin the pillars of a gate on the other side of the road. These two were detonated simultaneously,' he said.
Windows and doors in surrounding buildings in the road, most of them houses, were shattered by the explosions, which police believe were caused by the IRA. St Patrick's Roman Catholic Cathedral, less than 200 yards from the main blast, escaped damage.
Before leaving Dublin with the leaders of the Presbyterian and Methodist churches Monday, Daly and Eames said their mission was non- political and they wanted to promote better understanding, peace and justice as well as fresh investment.
The church leaders refused to comment on sensitive political issues, including the extradition of IRA members from the United States to Britain and controversial principles that advocate religious equality in industry.
The churchmen will visit Washington, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
In Belfast, Britain's secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Sir Patrick Mayhew, said he was still hopeful that the British and Irish governments could kick-start new talks on the future government of Northern Ireland.
Mayhew told a meeting of businessmen he had been 'heartened' by his recent meetings with the new Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dick Spring.
But while further meetings between British and Irish ministers are planned for the near future, Mayhew said the British government's determination to defeat terrorism was unshakeable.
'Our policy is clear, calm and calculated,' he said. 'It is to put the defeat of terrorism first and to reinforce the security measures of the Royal Ulster Constabulary with economic, political and social measures designed to make Northern Ireland the tranquil, fair and stable place that should be the experience of every citizen of the United Kingdom.'
