THE British government urgently appealed to loyalists last night not to be provoked by the double bomb attack on the army headquarters at Lisburn.
The Prime Minister, Mr John Major, said the attack represented "a very serious development", but that it was impossible to say what it meant for the peace and political process in the North until it was known who was responsible.
Speaking upon his arrival in Bournemouth for the Conservative conference, Mr Major said: "What they have done is barbaric. To have placed a bomb without warning, to kill or maim innocent men or women, and then to place a second bomb where those people already injured and maimed might be caught as they sought medical attention, or to kill those people giving them medical attention. . is just unspeakable.".
In answer to questions, he said there was "no reason to believe it is the Provisional IRA".
He said he was on the side of the people of Northern Ireland who yearned for peace. "I am on their side. I want this (process) to continue and I want a satisfactory outcome.
"If anybody thinks, whether it is a splinter group or the Provisional IRA, that they can bomb the British government out of the policy stance they think is right for Northern Ireland, they are making a very serious and fundamental mistake."
He said every aspect of the peace process had been a case of two steps forward and one step back", and that he had announced right at the outset that this would be the case.
There had been sticky patches before. "We have a sticky period at the moment but I hope we can make progress. How fare that progress will go, how speedily that progress will go, I can't tell you. But I can tell you it is worth every effort everyone can make to try to ensure the process continues."
Mr Major urged Sinn Fein, if it was a democratic party committed to peace and to representing, the people of Northern Ireland, to make a statement condemning the outrage unequivocally.
He rejected criticism of the peace process difficulties, saying they were "hardly surprising" when there were so many sharply differing views among the negotiating parties.
But he added: "Nobody has ever been in any doubt of the direction that I am coming from. That is to try to believe that there is still reason in politics and the opportunity of reason prevailing and a satisfactory settlement being reached. I am prepared to take criticism from any quarter in search of that settlement in Northern Ireland. I haven't spent five years searching for it to give it up."
Mr Major said many people in the North believed that for progress to continue there had to be decommissioning in parallel with talks. It was the view that came out of the Mitchell report and was supported by many people across the political divide.
The British Labour leader, Mr Tony Blair, described the bomb attack as "an act of appalling unprovoked terrorism. I condemn utterly those responsible for this outrage. My thoughts are with the injured and their families."
The Liberal Democrat leader, Mr Paddy Ashdown, said: "My first thoughts are with the injured. This is a very grave day for Northern Ireland and the peace process. It seems likely the republicans are behind this act of terrorism, and it is important that unionists do not allow themselves to be provoked"
The Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, condemned the atrocity, "particularly the lack of warning and timing of the second explosion and urged loyalists to maintain their ceasefire.
Mr David Wilshire, vice chairman of the Tory backbench, Northern Ireland committee and a member of the Commons Northern Ireland Select Committee, said: "Yet another tragedy, another avoidable disaster - is it now possible that the British government, the Irish Government and the American government will come to their senses, realise that they can't compromise with killers?
"You can't do deals with terrorists. Hopefully this time they will realise that the reason why Sinn Fein/IRA have not handed in their guns and explosives is because they want to use them. The message is simple - `do what we want or we'll kill you'", Mr Wilshire said.