CO. ARMAGH REINFORCED

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34045, 8 January 1976, Page 9

CO. ARMAGH REINFORCED

i ,\ Z P A . Keuter—Copyright) BELFAST. January 7. j As British Army rein-! forcements today- moved' into Northern Ireland's border "bandit” country, jthe British Government faced a direct challenge to its policy of conciliation between the communities in the province from militant leaders of the Protestant majority,! Loyalist politicians have) demanded an all-out I offensive against the Irish

.Republican Army, and the j leaders of Protestant para- ! military organisations are ) reported to be considering a jrevenge war on the I.R.A. The decision to send 600 extra troops into the County 1 of Armagh was taken yesterday at a special meeting in • London between the Prime Minister (Mr Wilson), the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (Mr Merlyn ' Rees) and senior army officers. ,| The meeting followed a series of reprisal killings between Roman Catholic and I Protestant guerrilla groups 'which culminated, on Mon-

(day night, in the murder of 1 10 Protestants ambushed onf |their way home from work. . The British Army empha-i; s sises that it is not changing! jits low-key' security policy! i in the province by' mobilis-l ling reinforcements. “The troops, who arrived! (from Britain today' and went; straight into Armagh, will] I simply extend and back-up; j routine patrols — there isi I no question of house-to- ! house searches, or anything; 'like that..” a spokesman said. I The 600 men will double; the army’s strength in Ar- .

magh. and will bring the: I total number of British sol-' diets in the province to I about 15.200 [ The “softly, softly” approach of the army, which ;is wary of increasing support for the I.R.A. by an[tagonising Roman Catholics, iis condemned by Loyalists. I After a meeting with Mr ■Rees yesterday, Protestant ; poiiticans said that they had tried to persuade him to 'change his policy in the 'province. The Rev. lan PaisHey said that he had urged '.the Minister to declare that he would "militarily defeat | the I.R.A. in outright war. ” and he added: “I would contemplate that if Mr Rees rej fuses to change his policy, (then, in consultation with (the workers, some sort of action will be taken to bring (the British Government to its senses.” ■ Another politician. Mr 'Glen Barr, said that leaders :of the Protestant para-mili-itary armies were under ' pressure to go on a war footing. j In the Irish Republic, the I Minister of Justice (Mr Patrick Cooney) said: "The latlest killings have brought the (holocaust situation appreciably closer.” I Sinn Fein, the political |wing of the 1.R.A., called on [Protestant clergymen who [have acted as mediators in the past to intervene again to halt the increasing sectarian violence.