IRA Bomb Blast Kills 7 Workers

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Seven workers were killed and seven were injured Friday when an IRA bomb ripped through a builder’s minibus on a remote Northern Ireland country road, police said.

The outlawed Irish Republican Army told Belfast news media that its members in County Tyrone were responsible.

“This is a scene of carnage. It is evil. It is wanton,” Police Chief Hugh Annesley said. It is the province’s bloodiest attack since the IRA killed eight soldiers with a roadside bomb in 1988.

The workmen were packed into a building firm’s minibus when they were blown off the road in a huge blast on the Omagh-to-Cookstown road. It was heard up to 10 miles away.

Police confirmed that the construction workers were on their way home after doing contract work on a British army base.