THE IRA in west Belfast is believed to have been responsible for a grenade attack on a British army Land-Rover in the Springfield Road area of the city last night.
One grenade struck the front wheel of one of the Land-Rovers - the second of a two-vehicle patrol - while a second struck the side of an industrial training centre, part of the Springvale industrial complex. The industrial unit is part of the same complex visited by President Clinton during his visit to Northern Ireland in November 1995.
No one was injured in the attack, although some elderly people living in streets nearby suffered shock. Local people said there were two loud explosions in very quick succession.
It is believed the weapon used is a newly devised twin horizontal mortar. A similar weapon was used in an attack outside Downpatrick, Co Down, nine days ago. RUC officers and a passing woman motorist had a narrow escape when the missiles passed inches over their vehicles and exploded into a ditch in that attack.
The weapon is manufactured by the IRA itself and consists of two launchers joined together with warheads containing 2 lb of high explosive. It is designed to pierce the armour plating on security force vehicles.
Last night's attack took place seven hours after the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, launched his party's campaign for the British general election. He said a vote for his party was a "vote for peace".
President Clinton chose Springvale for a keynote speech on the peace process and after leaving the complex his cavalcade stopped so he could shake hands with Mr Adams at the corner of Springfield Road and the Falls Road.
The attack, the latest in a series of unsuccessful or interrupted IRA operations in the North, is likely to raise further speculation about the IRA's intentions and its relationship with the Sinn Fein leadership.
Security sources in the North are insistent that the attacks are intended to be deadly and that the lack of any casualties has only resulted from luck.
However, it is apparent that the IRA has lost operational ability in the period since it called its ceasefire in 1994. There have been at least a dozen bomb or mortar attacks in which the security forces have escaped in the past two months.
It is also clear that the RUC is receiving unprecedented levels of assistance from the public in nationalist areas. The police have seized large amounts of IRA equipment.
Two attempts to launch missile attacks on security force vehicles, in the past month were interrupted apparently after the police were tipped off.