Monday, Aug. 29, 1988

World Notes TERRORISM

For almost 20 years, British soldiers in Northern Ireland have been among the favorite targets of Irish Republican Army gunmen and bombers. Late last week, eight died and 27 were injured when a land mine exploded alongside a military bus taking troopers back to their base at Omagh from leave on the British mainland. The toll, the worst single-day count for the army in the province since 1982, raised to 410 the number of British troops killed by terrorists since the "Troubles" erupted.

On Friday, a bomb injured three Royal Ulster Constabulary police officers, while another explosion ripped through Northern Ireland's newest hostelry. The same day thousands turned out at funerals for a Protestant grocer and a British soldier, both victims of recent gunmen attacks. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher broke off her vacation and returned to London, where Ulster Protestant Members of Parliament are demanding that suspected terrorists be jailed without trial.