'Underworld' witnesses saw IRA bombers

SEVERAL witnesses who can identify the terrorists responsible for the Docklands bomb that shattered the IRA ceasefire have been found by Scotland Yard.

Some are from the fringes of the underworld in London's East End, and at least one of the witnesses had thought the suspected IRA men were undercover police officers.

They spotted the bombers in the final stages of their bomb run while the lorry used in the attack was parked on waste ground at River Road in Barking, east London. It was during the stop in Barking that the vehicle and its drivers aroused suspicion in an area where shady deals are commonplace.

The Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch believes the finds are an important break-through in the hunt for the bombers, whose 1,000lb fertiliser bomb killed two people and caused widespread destruction when it was detonated near the South Quay station of the Docklands Light Railway at 7.01pm on 9 February.

The witnesses, whom an anti-terrorist source described as "not the type of people who usually help out the police" are involved in second-hand car sales and scrap metal. They have provided detailed descriptions of the bombers' clothes and physical features, all of which match. This also tallies with images from surveillance cameras.

The Anti-Terrorist Branch now has a large wealth of material on the bombers, most as a result of a public appeal, including the offer of up to pounds 1m reward, by the head of the branch, Commander John Grieve.

It has also recovered important new evidence from more than 600 video surveillance cameras, although so far only blurred images of two terrorists planting the bomb have been found. The branch may yet decide to circulate descriptions or photographs of the suspects, but fears this could tip off the terrorists and cause them to flee to America.

nAn attempt to extradite an alleged IRA member wanted over 1994 bicycle bombs in British seaside resorts failed yesterday because supporting British legal documents provided to Irish authorities were "fatally flawed", Alan Murdoch writes from Dublin.

Violent scenes followed as Tony Duncan, 26, from Finglas in north Dublin, was released then re-arrested on a different charge.

Duncan, wanted in Britain over the planting of bicycle bombs in Brighton and Bognor Regis in 1994, had reportedly been under surveillance in Ireland since before Christmas.

Judge Timothy Crowley said it was "at least the second or third time" he had had to deal with incorrect British extradition documents. "I take grave exception to the time of this court being taken up with flawed British documents," he said.

Republican demonstrators shouting "No British justice" and "No extradition" tried to force their way past uniformed police to free Duncan as he was immediately re-arrested.

Soon after, Duncan was remanded in custody for a week by the same court, charged with IRA membership within the Irish Republic.