P.L.O. 'sending new arms to I.R.A.’

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 5

P.L.O. 'sending new arms to I.R.A.’

NZPA Belfast Irish Republican Army guerrillas in Northern Ireland have received new weapons from the Palestine Liberation Organisation, an authoritative security source has said. Among the weapons are a half-dozen United Statesmade M6O machine-guns and explosives, he said in an interview with the Associated Press. The mainly Roman Catholic I.R.A. is fighting to end British rule in Protestantdominated Northern Ireland and unite it with the overwhelmingly Catholic Irish Republic to the south. The source declined to be indentified or give mam details. But it is known that the I.R.A.’s provisional wing has received at least one shipment of arms from the P.L.O. in recent months. Another five tons of P.L.O. hardware — mortars.

rocket launchers, automatic, ■ weapons. and explosives — was intercepted in Belgium jlast November. The arms! (were hidden in electrical' (transformers en route from’ Cyprus to the Irish Repub-: I lie. i The gun-running is the! latest evidence of P.L.O? (support for the Provisionals.' | They have had links since! 1970 with the Palestinians ■ who have in the past trained! (squads of Irish guerrillas in(Lebanon and Libya, according to informed intelligence' i sources. ' The I.R.A. have plenty of] 'weapons, (he source re-! I ported, “although we’ve captured a lot of their arms, in-! (eluding American-made Ar-! malite rifles." Security chiefs believe the! Provisionals plan to step up! their campaign of assassinat-1 ing men of the pre-| dominantly Protestant police! force and Ulster Defence!

Regiment, the province’: 8000-ntan national guard More than 185 policemen and U.D.R. personnel, including women, have bee: killed since 1971. The guerrillas’ atm is to provoke well-armed extremists among the millionstrong Proteslam majority into launching revenge attacks against Catholics, forcing the Catholics to rally behind the I.R.A. for protection. This, the I.R.A. theorise, will touch off fresh sectarian bloodshed and oui new pressure on the British to pull oui of the province.' This campaign reached I climax last Friday in a firebomb attack on a crowded Belfast hotel in which U Proiestants were killed. There are signs that this atrocity and other attack! have pushed Protestant* close to the edge, claiming the British are not protecting them.