Catholics Riot; Thatcher Vows War on Terror

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Catholic youths rioted overnight in IRA strongholds, torching scores of buses and cars, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher today vowed that “terrorism will not win” in the province that was rocked by 25 slayings in August--the bloodiest month of violence in 15 years.

In the overnight rioting in West Belfast--a reaction to a British army commando ambush that killed three IRA gunmen in a hail of bullets Tuesday--gangs of youths swarmed through the streets seizing cars, buses and delivery vans and setting them afire, police said.

Two people were injured during a clash with police in the rioting, coming hours after a civilian couple were killed by an Irish Republican Army booby-trap bomb in Londonderry.

Thatcher, in an interview published today in the Daily Express newspaper, defended the commando ambush of the three IRA gunmen, even though such ambushes have intensified anti-British rioting by IRA supporters in the past.

“Stepping up their (the IRA) campaign and their attacks strengthens the resolve of the British government that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and will remain so,” Thatcher said.