Posted on 04/29/2002 2:58:59 PM PDT by gridlock
Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
April 29, 2002
British bomb expert sees Palestinian-IRA link
By Douglas Davis
LONDON - A former British explosives expert now working for the Red Cross in the Jenin refugee camp has found 200 explosive devices that are identical to those used by the IRA in Northern Ireland, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday.
Former Royal Engineers bomb-disposal expert Paul Collinson told the London-based paper that the devices he had found were identical in every detail to those he had encountered in Northern Ireland.
He is convinced that the devices were wither supplied by the IRA or made by Palestinians under direct IRA supervision: "When I saw the bombs it was like a flashback to Northern Ireland," he told the paper.
"The pipe bombs I found in Jenin were exact replicas of those in Northern Ireland – the size of the bomb, the way they put the nail in, the way of igniting it with a light-bulb filament, where they drilled the holes through, the use of a command wire and the means of initiating the bomb; these all the same.
"They have all the hallmarks of originating from Ireland. When you put two and two together then it seems that they could well have be trained by the IRA," Collinson said.
Collinson also said the booby-trap bombs used in Jenin and Northern Ireland were made from the same ingredients - nitrogen-based fertilizer, diesel, and sugar - and he believes that tactics used by Palestinian in the battle for Jenin reflect those of IRA attacks on British soldiers.
"The bombs were placed in alleyways and in houses," he said.
"The Palestinians attempt to lure the soldiers into these alleyways, which were booby-trapped, and then explode the devices with a command wire. I have seen similar tactics used by the IRA in Armagh, Londonderry, and Belfast.
Collinson, who has worked as an explosives expert in Palestinian territories over the past two years, as well as in Egypt, Colombia, Afghanistan, and other countries since leaving Northern Ireland, said he had seen replicas of the IRA bombs in no place other than Jenin.
Israel raised concerns about links between IRA and Palestinian groups last month when the Mossad told British intelligence it believed the killing of seven soldiers and three civilians in Ofra by a sniper using a bolt-action rifle bore the hallmarks of an IRA operation.
When the sniper fled - after firing 25 shots in 25 minutes - he left behind his weapon, a trademark IRA practice.
The US Senate is currently investigating IRA links with the Columbian terrorist group, the FARC, after three suspected IRA officials were allegedly attempting to build a "super-bomb". The discovery of a link between the Palestinians and the IRA would be devastating to the credibility of the IRA, which has officially declared a cease fire, and could have far-reaching implications for the Northern Ireland peace process.
A US government official told the Sunday Telegraph that "if there was clear and convincing evidence that the IRA had been training Palestinians in bomb-making techniques, then we are facing a grave and grievous situation fo the IRA.
"It would surely lead to a reassessment of whether the IRA should not be put on the designated list of terrorist organizations with a global reach," he said. "The implications could not be worse for the IRA."
After all, the Palis and the IRA were fighting the same enemy, the British, for some time, weren't they.
Nobody who's ever read a Clancy novel is surprised by this...
Still, I do find it amusing to watch the IRA backpedal.
Wouldn't that be a great shame. It's about time people recognised the IRA for what they are. It's a shame that t** Tony Blair still hasn't and is quite prepared to let senior Sinn Fein members walk the houses of Parliament. A Guy Falkes-ian situation if ever there was one.
Traitain
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