by Paul Goodman
CARDINAL Basil Hume condemned the IRA bombing of Victoria Station on Monday as "too ghastly for words" when he visited victims of the blast at a nearby hospital.
He drew particular attention to the timing of the bombing. "At a time when there is a great deal of anxiety about loss of life in the Gulf'," he said, "it is all the more cowardly to add to those anxieties by such wanton attacks."
Some 31 casualties were treated at Westminster Hospital for limb and shrapnel injuries, the result of flying pieces of metal and glass.
The father of a 16-month old baby was killed and the condition of another victim was described as "very serious." A young Irish girl who had just arrived in London at the time of the explosion was also hurt.
• Bishop Edward Daly of Derry has strongly criticised the searching of Catholic homes in his diocese by the security forces, stressing that innocent householders might consequently "become targets for loyalist paramilitaries". The RUC described the searches as "necessary and justifiable."