Attacks Force Police Changes in N. Ireland

An upsurge in IRA violence has forced Northern Ireland’s police chief to freeze plans for big job cuts and other major structural changes in his Royal Ulster Constabulary, British media reported. A police spokesman refused to divulge details of a review of the force’s structures but said staff “are being updated” about its key findings. The reports came after a mortar attack on a village police station in the British-ruled province, which security sources were convinced was the latest in an escalating campaign by Irish Republican Army guerrillas fighting British rule. One missile crashed through the roof of the unoccupied site at Tempo on Saturday, and the other landed in the station yard. They were fired from a van that burst into flames minutes later. “Both failed to explode and were defused by army experts,” a spokesman said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.