U.N. troops recalled

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33538, 20 May 1974, Page 1

U.N. troops recalled

(A’ Z P. A.-Reuter—Copyrights DUBLIN, May 18. Ireland today recalled its troops serving with the United Nations in the Middle East after the country’s worst terror bombings left 28 dead and more than ISO wounded.

An emergency Cabinet meeting said in a statement after a three-hour session: ‘‘The Government decided to take special measures to strengthen security and to increase the strength of the security forces.” The Irish contingent of 340 officers and men in the United Nations peacekeeping force is at present in Sinai. Detectives investigating what the Irish are calling “Our Bloody Friday” said) they had one clue to the bombers—a precise description of a .man seen walking away from a parked car' minutes before the explosions shattered streets in the) late-afternoon rush hour. But Chief Superintendent John Joy, heading Dublin’s central detective unit, added: “1 have a completely open mind about who is responsible at this stage.” Chief Superintendent Joy told a press conference that the suspect was described by a witness in South Leinster Street, where one of the bombs went off. as being about 24 years old. sft 7in. of thin build and thin! features, dark medium-cut i hair and dressed in a dark jacket and brown slacks. Chief Superintendent Joy, working with 40 detectives, said he believed the bombers could still be in the country.)

“We have fairly tight security on the border with Northern Ireland with garda (police) and the Army,” he said. He said that Irish police were getting excellent cooperation from the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland, where two of the bombed cars were hijacked and two were stolen yesterday. As police cleared Dublin streets of yesterday’s carnage, and devastation small'groups of bystanders looked on. Typical of public reaction was the murmured comment of a middle-aged housewife as she watched the tangled wreckage of cars and wrecked shops being cleared. "God forgive them." she said. Army explosives experts were examining bits of debris to determine the source of the charges packed in the cars. The dead in Dublin were 15 women, six men and two small girls. Six of the women, two of the men, and the two girls were still unidentified today. The five other fatal casualties were in Monaghan, about 80 miles north of Dublin near the border. The City Coroner (Dr P. J. Botin) worked through the night at the city morgue and today was continuing the task of making post-mortem examinations of the mutilated remains.