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Bomb on boat kills Lord Mountbatten

From Frank McDonald and Colm Boland

THE world has reacted with horror and outrage to the killing of Lord Louis Mountbatten yesterday when his boat was destroyed by a bomb off the Co Sligo coast. President Hillery and the Taoiseach, Mr Lynch, have condemned the murder; the Government of India has declared a week's mourning, and in Washington the United States Government said it was deeply saddened by the tragic death. Senator Edward Kennedy issued a statement calling for an end to senseless violence and brutal acts.

Lord Mountbatten was a cousin of the Queen of England and an uncle of the Duke of Edinburgh. Also killed in the explosion in Lord Mountbatten's fishing boat was his 15-year-old grandson and another 15-year-old boy who was the pilot on the boat.

Lord Mountbatten's daughter, Lady Brabourne, her husband Lord Brabourne, their son Timothy and Lord Brabourne's mother, the Dowager Baroness of Brabourne, who were also onboard at the time, were seriously injured in the explosion and their condition was said to be critical in Sligo Regional Hospital.

The Provisional IRA in Belfast have admitted responsibility for the outrage . . .

Lord Mountbatten arrived in Mullaghmore on August 4th for his annual holiday . . . He and his party of six left the quayside at Mullaghmore harbour on their boat, the Shadow V, at about 11.40 am yesterday to gather lobster pots and do some fishing in the bay. They took a course parallel to the coast shadowed by a Garda patrol car , and about half-a-mile out, they stopped briefly. It was then that their boat was blown asunder by the blast of a bomb estimated at 50 lb.

Lord Mountbatten, his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, and Paul Maxwell of Enniskillen, were killed instantly and the survivors were picked up by fishermen in nearby boats.

From Tues, August 28, 1979