A SMALL EXPLOSION in west London last night followed two telephone warning calls to the Associated Press news agency from a person claiming to represent the IRA.
No one was injured in the explosion, which occurred near the south side of Hammersmith Bridge at 10.54 p.m.
The blast followed Sinn Fein's announcement that it would contest the elections in Northern Ireland, due to be held on May 30th. It occurred on the 80th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, which took place on April 24th, 1916.
Mr Martin McGuinness, of Sinn Fein, had said earlier yesterday that, in his opinion, there was no prospect whatsoever of a restoration of the IRA ceasefire unless cast iron guarantees were given that the all party talks scheduled for June 10th would constitute "real and meaningful negotiations".
Last night, police in London confirmed that they had received a coded warning at 10.22 p.m. stating that a device had been placed on the south side of Hammersmith Bridge. "Police immediately evacuated the area and began a search. At 10.54 pm. a small explosion occurred in the vicinity of the south side of Hammersmith Bridge. This was not a controlled explosion," a spokesman said.
First reports suggested that there had been two blasts, but Scotland Yard said later that the second reported blast may have been an echo.
Staff and customers at the Blue Anchor pub in Hammersmith, close to the scene of the explosion, said that they heard two loud bangs at about 11 p.m.
The pub manager, Mr Kevin Martin (23), said that the explosions went off as staff were clearing customers from the pub. "Everyone in the pub was talking about the bangs, but there was no panic. People were pretty calm about it," he said.
A resident living near Hammersmith Bridge said the whole area had been sealed off by police.
Mr Simon Tyrrell (32), who works for Lloyds of London, said that the first he knew of something being amiss was when he heard police sirens near his home. "Soon, there were dozens of policemen in the area, with vehicles all around both ends of the bridge." Later, he heard what sounded like two separate blasts from the direction of the fridge.
The police were said to have spotted two boxes on the footpath beneath the bridge. Sniffer dogs were used to check the area.
Last night also marked the third anniversary of the Bishopsgate bombing in the City of London, which killed one man, injured many more and caused millions of pounds worth of damage.
London has seen a number of small scale bomb attacks in recent weeks. The last explosion occurred a week ago at The Boltons, an exclusive area of Earls Court in west London.
The IRA ended its ceasefire on February 9th with the bombing of South Quay in London's Docklands, in which two people were killed. Less than a week later, a 5 lb Semtex bomb was left in a hold all in a telephone box at Charing Cross Road in central London. On February 18th, an IRA member, Ed O'Brien, was blown up when the bomb he was carrying on a bus in central London exploded prematurely,
Announcing the decision to participate in the election, the Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, said that the party would not support anything which approximated to an internal settlement or which might lead to a return to unionist domination.
. President Clinton is ready to sever relations with Sinn Fein if the IRA does not resume its ceasefire, according to reports in the Times and Daily Express early today. Mr Adams had been left in no doubt that US policy towards his party would change dramatically if there was no renewal of the ceasefire, they said.