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I.R.A. SETS OFF BOMB AT BELGIAN CONCERT

I.R.A. SETS OFF BOMB AT BELGIAN CONCERT
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August 29, 1979, Section A, Page 10Buy Reprints
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BRUSSELS, Aug. 28 (AP) — A bomb planted under an open‐air stage where a British Army band was preparing to give a concert today injured at least 15 persons, including four bandsmen, and caused extensive damage.

Mayor Pierre van Halteren of Brussels said the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the bombing in a telephone call to city hall.

Irish guerrillas have been accused of responsibility for several other attacks in Belgium in recent months, including one in June involving Gen. Alexander M. Haig Jr., then Supreme Allied Commander in Europe for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The bombing, in Brussels’ historic Grand’ Place, came just a day after Earl Mountbatten of Burma and three others were killed in a bombing in the Irish Republic, and 18 British soldiers died in an attack in Northern Ireland. The I.R.A. claimed responsibility for both attacks.

Minutes Before Concert

The band that came to Brussels was from the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment, which is stationed in Osnabruck, West Germany. The bombing occurred only minutes before the band was to have begun a concert in the broad square, a major tourist site surrounded by centuries‐old buildings.

However, only 6 of the 30 members of the band were on the makeshift stage when the bomb exploded, at about 3 P.M. The others had stepped off to change into their red dress uniforms after setting up music stands and instruments.

The band had been held up in traffic and was late arriving for the concert. The police said that if the bomb had gone off later, during the concert, the casualty toll would have been heavier.

Before the I.R.A. telephone call was reported, Earl Nicoll, military attaché at the British Embassy here, said: “I'd guess it is either the I.R.A. or people sympathetic to their aims. It is clearly a manifestation they wanted to hit the band, not any Belgians.”

The temporary stage has been used for daily concerts to mark the city's 1,000th birthday this year. A police spokesman said the explosives were under the stage floor in the back, on the side away from the square. At the time of the explosion only a few hundred people, most of them tourists, were in the square, which is lined by outdoor cafes, flower stalls and centuries‐old guildhalls.

The blast created a 90‐by‐30‐foot hole in the stage floor, and severely damaged the back wall and the ceiling. It shattered windows in the ancient buildings. A police spokesman said investigators did not yet know what kind of bomb was used. Officials estimated the damage at $134,000 to $167,000.

A number of other recent terrorist attacks on the continent have been blamed on the I.R.A.

British Ambassador Killed

On March 22, Sir Richard Sykes, Britain's Ambassador to the Netherlands, and his Dutch valet were shot and killed as the envoy left for work in The Hague.

The same day, a Belgian bank employee was shot to death in front of his home in suburban Brussels in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity on the part of the I.R.A. Officials believe the gunmen were after Sir John Killick, deputy chief of Britain's mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has its headquarters in Belgium.

Authorities also think that a June 25 bomb explosion outside Brussels that narrowly missed General Haig was intended for a British general and was also the work of the I.R.A.

On July 6, a bomb that officials believe was planted by the I.R.A. went off in the British consulate building in Antwerp, Belgium, causing damage but no injuries. Four days later, two bombs went off at two British Rhine Army barracks in Dortmund, West Germany, causing extensive damage but again no injuries. The I.R.A. claimed responsibility for those and other bombings at facilities of the 50,000‐member Rhine Army.

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