US/COLOMBIA: A report by President Bush's National Security Council has said that the IRA's training of Colombian rebels is an example of new high-tech terrorism.
The detailed report, entitled "Strategy for Combating Terrorism", sets out US plans to combat new terror threats. Under the heading "Interconnected Terrorist Organisations" the report warns that the modern terrorist threat is characterised by loose connections between groups which are possible because of modern technology and transnational networks.
It says the arrest in 2001 of three IRA members in Colombia suspected of training FARC in urban bombing campaigns was an example of this new phenomenon. "The connections between al-Qaeda and terrorist groups throughout south-east Asia further highlight this reality." The report comes days after the Colombian Defence Minister, Ms Martha Lucia Ramirez, warned that the IRA, or the Basque separatist group ETA, had helped FARC blow up a Bogota social club that killed 32 people nearly two weeks ago.