FOUR MEN arrested in south Armagh yesterday during a major dawn security operation involving hundreds of British soldiers, RUC officers and Scotland Yard anti terrorist police were later flown to London for questioning in connection with the IRA bombing of Canary Wharf in London's Docklands.
The carefully planned "snatch" operation, led by Scotland Yard's anti terrorist squad, began just as dawn was breaking and was cent red on Forkhill, close to the Border.
Scotland Yard said the men were being questioned in connection with recent terrorist crimes in London. Local security sources said the arrests were linked to the Canary Wharf bombing in February, which killed two men and brought the 18 month IRA cease fire to an end.
Local security sources expressed some surprise at the identity of those arrested, saying that they were not known to have any major republican "form".
Two houses were the main target of the operation. Five people were arrested, one of whom was later released. The remaining four were driven to Aldergrove Airport outside Belfast and flown to London. Another person was detained in London yesterday in a related arrest.
The men are being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and can be detained for seven days without charge.
Among those arrested in Forkhill were a father and two of his adult sons. The fourth man arrested in the village was unrelated and aged 28.
Senior members of Scotland Yard's anti terrorist branch, including its chief, Commander John Grieve, have visited Northern Ireland in recent months to try to trace those believed to have carried out the bombing.
Detectives involved in the investigation believe that the lorry used to transport the 1,000lb device from the North to London via the Larne Stranraer ferry was modified in the Border region, possibly in south Armagh or in the Republic.
They believe that work on converting the low loader to carry the bomb may have begun just before President Clinton's visit to Northern Ireland last November.
. Several hundred Sinn Fein supporters attended a rally in.the Ulster Hall in Belfast last night at which the party's president, Mr Gerry Adams, told them that there could not be a peace settlement unless Sinn Fein was at the talks table.
Mr Adams welcomed the appointment of Mr George Mitchell and his colleagues and said that Sinn Fein had argued for years that there needed to be an international dimension to the Northern situation.
