Ulster police accuse IRA of abduction try

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - The Irish Republican Army tried to abduct a leading IRA dissident from a Belfast bar, Northern Ireland's police chief said Saturday, reviving arguments over whether the outlawed group will ever renounce violence and disband.

Leaders of the moderate Catholic and Protestant parties demanded clear, new peace commitments from the IRA after Chief Constable Hugh Orde revealed Friday night's abduction attempt.

Police responding to a telephone call from the pub prevented the gang from escaping by ramming into their van at a nearby intersection. Inside the van, they found four IRA suspects and the victim, alleged IRA dissident Bobby Tohill.

Police were questioning the four men arrested on Saturday, a process that could last for up to a week under British antiterrorism laws. Witnesses said as many as three other people fled from the vehicle into West Belfast, a Catholic area. Police later arrested two more men on suspicion of involvement.

Tohill, 44, was hospitalized with cuts and bruises. He discharged himself.

Orde said the four suspects are connected to the mainstream IRA, formally called the "Provisional" IRA or PIRA. The Provisionals have been observing a cease-fire since 1997, but dissident groups called the Real IRA and Continuity IRA are trying to break it.

The Provisionals have maintained their dominant position in Belfast, where the dissidents have few supporters, in part by threatening or attacking their rivals.

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