The aftermath of the Markethill bomb carried strange echoes of the instant reactions to Princess Diana's car crash. The Provisional IRA was cast in the role of the paparazzi, the initial target of public ire, especially from the unionists. Coming after last week's IRA interview in An Phoblacht, it seemed to some observers as if the Provisionals were about to launch a series of "no claim, no blame" actions, driving a coach-and-four through the Mitchell Principles, as loyalist paramilitaries have allegedly done in the past.
The Provisionals were quick to issue a statement of denial, believed by most observers but not, apparently, by the unionists. The UUP turned the incident into a stick to beat Sinn Fein with and demanded that party's expulsion from the talks.
While collaboration by grassroots Provisionals cannot be completely ruled out, the balance of informed opinion was that Markethill was the work of the Continuity Army Council. Some such action was probably to be expected. The CAC's bombing of the Killyhevlin Hotel in Co Fermanagh during the incidents at Drumcree last year was also very precisely timed to achieve the maximum political effect.
It was a smart move on the Ulster Unionists' part to head straight for the scene of the crime. Nobody could accuse them of callousness or indifference towards the fate of the people of Markethill, seen as a good Ulster Unionist town in a sea of nationalism.
The UUP's aggression towards Sinn Fein may help to deflect some of the criticism of the Democratic Unionists, who quickly settled into I-told-you-so mode when the news broke.
Mr Peter Robinson said: "The dreadful irony of Mr Trimble and his minions submissively creeping towards the door of the Stormont talks and diverting away (at least temporarily) because of this bombing will not be lost on the unionist electorate. Was Mr Trimble not on his way to be part of a talks process with people who had done so much worse?"
The battle for the soul of unionism is mirrored by the contest between the peace process republicans and the irredentists. Saoirse, the Republican Sinn Fein paper which shares the view of the CAC, has been unremittingly hostile to the efforts of Mr Gerry Adams and his colleagues.
Under the heading "New ceasefire: same sell-out", Saoirse wrote last month that "the British have secured new allies for the restructuring of their rule in Ireland". The paper asked if the Provisionals would "police their new ceasefire for the British government?"
This language does not augur well in the light of reports that the Provisional IRA has kidnapped four members of the CAC since the first ceasefire was declared in August 1994.
Unlike the unionists, the Northern Secretary, Dr Mo Mowlam, did not apportion blame to any named organisation in her initial reaction to the bombing. She was content to attribute the action simply to "sinister people".
In doing so she may have been echoing the view of prominent people in both the Labour government and Sinn Fein that undercover elements in the security establishment are exploiting the situation and that the fruits of their efforts could be seen in Markethill yesterday and in the actions of dissident loyalists before that. However, no hard evidence to sustain this view has yet been made available.
The UUP has now had two serious tests of its nerve in as many weeks: first the IRA's `tonic for the troops" interview in An Phoblacht, and now Markethill. No doubt more shocks and surprises are in store. For example, a senior loyalist negotiator has warned of a possible assassination of some prominent figure in the peace process.
Perhaps there is a limit to the number of shocks the process can sustain, but yesterday the UUP was still holding its nerve. "It upsets our tactics but not our strategy," senior UUP sources said. "We're not going to be bombed out of the process."
