Bombs Explode in Resort Town in S. England
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BOURNEMOUTH, England — Police ordered tourists off beaches and searched for bombs in three southern resorts Friday after suspected IRA firebombs set off a series of blazes.
The fires damaged four stores and the pier in Bournemouth, where six incendiary devices and one small explosive device went off. No one was injured.
Police later defused a bomb under the Bournemouth pier that they said could have blown up the entire structure.
Bomb threats were reported in Brighton, 75 miles east of Bournemouth, and Torquay, 80 miles to the west. No devices were found.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombs or the threats. But bombs and firebombs are frequently used by the Irish Republican Army in its fight to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
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