The chairman of Sinn Fein chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, has said that those who planted the 400 lb bomb in Markethill, Co Armagh yesterday were "the enemies of the peace process". Speaking on BBC's Newsnight last night, Mr McLaughlin said "Sinn Fein is standing by the negotiating table. Those that say they want to see a democratic peace need to join us there, and we know that there is a lot of posturing going on. We know that people are hard-balling. "But they are really playing into the hands of the enemies of the peace process, and those who planted that bomb today are the enemies of the peace process."
And the deputy leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, Mr Billy Hutchinson, said last night he would be calling on all loyalists "to make sure that they don't respond to this bomb, because this is an attempt to destroy the whole political process."
He also said he thought the Combined Loyalist Military Command would not respond to the bomb.
It emerged last night that the blue Ford Transit van used in the bombing was stolen 12 days ago in Dundalk, Co Louth.
An IRA statement issued about two hours after the attack denied responsibility. The bomb is thought to have been the work of the splinter republican paramilitary organisation Continuity IRA (CIRA), said to be linked to Republican Sinn Fein. Despite the setback of yesterday's bombing, which caused widespread damage but no injuries, the British and Irish governments have intensified their efforts to move the peace process forward. The Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Burke, were working with the talks chairman, Mr George Mitchell, to devise a formula aimed at moving the Stormont talks into their "substantive" phase.
Elements from last Monday's joint statement in which the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, reiterated their desire to see weapons handed over, were being incorporated into a "refined formula" which was due to be put before the parties to the talks last night but is now likely to be presented today.
The Ulster Unionist Party had been expected to meet the SDLP at Stormont's Castle Buildings yesterday, but this was also postponed because of the Markethill bomb and may take place today.
Senior UUP sources said the bombing had "upset our tactics but not our strategy". The party was determined not be "bombed out of the process".
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, wrote to Mr Mitchell to demand that Sinn Fein be removed from the Stormont talks because of the bombing and last week's hardline IRA interview in An Phoblacht. Last night Mr Trimble met Dr Mowlam, who had said earlier she was "outraged" by the attack which was the work of "sinister people".
After the meeting Mr Trimble reiterated that he believed the "overwhelming probability" was that the IRA was responsible. "Much will turn on what evidence the police is able to obtain," he said, "but the gut feeling of people on the ground is the IRA responsible," he said.
The Taoiseach said he "utterly condemned" the bombing. "These acts will not deter the Government - and I trust will not deter anybody who is seeking peace - from their work in progressing the peace process and finding an agreement in the interests of all reasonable people on this island."
In a Sinn Fein statement earlier "regretting" the attack, Mr Gerry Adams claimed unionists were using it as an excuse for not participating in the talks.
The Continuity IRA was responsible for bombing the Protestant-owned Killyhevlin Hotel, in Co Fermanagh, during the Drumcree crisis of July 1996. Last month it planted a bomb in another Protestant-owned hotel in Co Fermanagh, but the device failed to explode. The group is opposed to Sinn Fein's participation in the current talks and peace process in the North.
The Clinton administration has "sharply condemned" the car-bombing in Markethill, Joe Carroll reports from Washington. The press secretary, Mr Mike McCurry, said it was "a cruel effort by extremists opposed to a peaceful settlement, aimed at disrupting the all-party talks that started yesterday in Belfast. We urge all the parties not to allow the enemies of peace to divert them from the important task of finding a lasting and just solution for the people of Northern Ireland."