LONDON -- The outlawed Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility Saturday for a series of bomb blasts that ripped through the popular seaside resort of Bournemouth, gutting shops and forcing police to seal off a square-mile area of the town center.
Five incendiary bombs exploded Friday. A sixth was found under the town's famous shoplined pier, but bomb disposal experts managed to defuse it.
A seventh device, this one filled with explosives, blew up on the west side of the pier, causing minor damage to some of the wooden boardwalk planking.
No one was hurt in the incidents, but the IRA said in its statement that only a 'technical difficulty' had prevented the last device from destroying the town's most prominent landmark.
Dorset's assistant chief constable Allen Rose said it was no surprise that the IRA had planted the bombs.
'It is ludicrous, however, for the IRA to claim they are 'not intent on targeting those people who choose to holiday in British resorts,'' Rose said, quoting from the IRA's statement.
'Their explosive devices are notoriously unpredictable and they are quite obviously willing to gamble with the lives of holidaymakers and their children,' Rose said.
He said police were now viewing more than 50 videotapes collected from surveillance cameras at Bournemouth stores in a bid to catch the bombers.
The bombs began exploding at about 3 a.m. Friday and the blasts continued at intervals for several hours. The devices ignited fires that gutted or damaged several businesses, including a furniture store, two clothing shops and a bookstore. No one was injured.
The attacks came at the busiest time of the year for the holiday beach resort and apparently was aimed at causing economic disruption rather than taking lives.
The IRA has been waging a bombing campaign in England in a bid to force London to withdraw from Northern Ireland. The campaign has forced authorities to beef up security in central London following bombing attacks there. The IRA often issues bomb warnings for numerous locations, only a few of which actually have bombs.
