UK troops killed by IRA bombs

Eight British soldiers recently killed in Iraq were victims of bombs created by UK security services and later first used by the IRA in their armed struggle in Northern Ireland.

The report in the weekly Independent on Sunday contradicts the British government claims that tried to put the blame on Iran's Revolutionary Guards for making the devices.

It comes after IRNA reported on Saturday that British commanders on the ground in Basra dismissed the allegations against Iran amid suggestions that they had been politically motivated.

In its front-page story, the Independent on Sunday said the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the UK soldiers were "initially created by British security services as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the Northern Ireland conflict in 1990s." "The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services in a botched "sting" operation more than a decade ago," it said, quoting security sources.

The bombs were said to include trigger using a three-way device, combining a command wire, a radio signal and an infra-red beam, which was "a technique perfected by the IRA."
"The technology reached the Middle East through the IRA's co- operation with Palestinian groups. In turn, some of these groups used to be sponsored by Saddam Hussein and his Baath party," a former British agent told the paper.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the technology used to kill our troops in Basra is the same British technology from a decade ago," the former agent said.

"Unfortunately, no one could see back then that this technology would be used to kill British soldiers thousands of miles away in a different war," the source added.