THE Libyan leader, Col Muammar Gadafy, a former arms supplier to the IRA, has condemned the Manchester bombing. It was "an act which should not be supported", he said, according to the official JANA news agency.
"Should it be confirmed that the IRA was behind the bombing which took place ... in Manchester, it would mean that the IRA deviated a great deal from liberating Ireland", the Libyan leader added.
The British embassy in Cairo said yesterday that it welcomed Col Gadafy's weekend statement.
Last year, Britain said Libya had answered a series of questions about its links with the IRA in what it called a positive step towards complying with United Nations resolutions to renounce terrorism.
Western diplomats said yesterday that Britain still wanted to see concrete steps from Col Gadafy, whose country has been under a UN air embargo since 1992 for refusing to hand over two Libyans accused of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.
"The statement is very positive, but it won't unlock the door to lifting sanctions," one diplomat said.
Col Gadafy marked the start of the IRA's ceasefire in September 1994 by reaffirming his support for what he called the IRA's just cause. "When Britain fought us, we armed the IRA", Col Gadafy said last year. "(But) we do not support attacks on civilians.