Another tragic day is relived as bomb blast rocks as town

IT WAS a sound the community in Enniskillen had hoped never to hear again - the frightening thump of a bomb. The weekend explosion at the Killyhevlin Hotel on the shores of Lough Erne breached the calm of the most visited county in Northern Ireland.

The first bomb in the North in two years ripped the front of the hotel apart and could be heard across the Fermanagh border in Co Cavan.

It rekindled fears for economic growth and tourism in an area which had been developing steadily. But much more than that, it reawakened the painful memories of the IRA bombing at the cenotaph in the town centre on Remembrance Sunday in November, 1987, in which 11 people died.

Poppy wreaths lay yesterday at the cenotaph as people drove by in the afternoon sun. At about 3 p.m., the town centre was blocked off because of a bomb scare, which turned out to be a hoax.

The cenotaph is about two miles from where the Killyhevlin Hotel stands gaping open to the elements on the Dublin road. Local residents are now fearful that the bombing could be the start of a return to full scale violence.

The assistant chief constable, Mr Tom Craig, who visited the bomb scene yesterday morning, said: "It is a sad, sad day for Enniskillen which is only too aware of the tragedy that occurred in this town years ago."

The owners of the 44 room family run hotel expressed their relief that nobody had been injured. The hotel has been bombed in the past and its managing director, Mr Rodney Watson, said it was miraculous that nobody had been seriously injured, given the short warning.

Although the new bedroom extension was destroyed, he hoped conference facilities could be reopened within a week.

Mr James McNamee was videoing a wedding at the hotel before it was evacuated. "The band was just about to start the last dance when the warning came.

The newly weds, Ms Martina McManus and Mr Thaddeus Turbett, were among the 17 people treated for shock after the explosion.

Mr McNamee said that he dived to the ground when the hotel blew up. "The fire went through the whole building very quickly. It was unbelievable, with cars exploding because of their petrol tanks and tyres burning."

The acrid smell of smoke was familiar to those caught up in the Poppy Day bombing. Mr Sam Foster, the Ulster Unionist chairman of Fermanagh District Council, remembers that day well.

"I was just across the road from the monument when the bomb exploded. I did some rescue work. Some people died in my arms. This brings back memories of that horrific experience.

"It brings back a lot of fears and opens old wounds for those who lost near and dear ones ...

There are undercurrents in the community, there is no doubt about that. But most people would live together quite well if the aggravation ceased. We have a beautiful county here, a beautiful province, if only it was allowed to live."

One guest at the wedding described the experience as a nightmare. Asked about the future, she shrugged her shoulders and said: "I am just afraid."

Another suggested that the way forward was to ban all future parades. But he doubted that that would be likely.

Throughout yesterday wedding, guests and tourists who had been at the hotel returned in an attempt to collect their belongings. One German couple said they had been assured last week in Sligo that it was "no problem to cross the Border and stay in the North".

Another couple left for home in Germany without being able to collect their luggage because the hotel was still cordoned off. "It is a lovely country, but I will not be back," the woman said.