UK: MANCHESTER: MANY INJURED IN CITY CENTRE BOMB BLAST

(15 Jun 1996) English/Nat Around 100 people have been injured by a bomb explosion in the northern English city of Manchester. The device - hidden in a car - went off at a major shopping centre as bomb squad officers checked the vehicle. The blast comes only days after peace talks and a peace forum began in Belfast. Britain's Prime Minister John Major condemned the bombing as a "dreadful act" and says it looks like the work of the I-R-A. A plume of smoke hangs above the Manchester shopping centre where the car bomb exploded. Police had received a telephone warning - and bomb squad officers were examining a suspect car when the device went off. Around a hundred people were caught in the blast - most received minor injuries from flying glass. 16 are reported to be in a serious condition - 4 are critical. Windows were shattered half a mile away. Police quickly cleared the area in case of further bombs. UPSOUND: Officers trying to move people away from site There was a scare when police carried out a controlled explosion to destroy a suspect package - which turned out to be harmless. Emergency teams from across Manchester rushed to the scene. SOUNDBITE: (English) "Basically we've got an exclusion zone because of the bomb that's gone off. It may be possible there are other devices - so we've , we're trying, the immediate thing is to get people away from the area that could be affected." SUPERCAPTION: Jeff Tipton, Bus Company Official The bombing has the hall marks of the I-R-A - but no one has yet admitted carrying out the attack. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the I-R-A has been excluded from Belfast peace talks - which started earlier this week. Sinn Fein will only be allowed to take part if the I-R-A renews its ceasefire - broken when a bomb exploded in London's Docklands in February. Manchester is one of the cities hosting the Euro '96 Soccer Championships - the third biggest sporting event in the world. Hundreds of soccer fans are in the city for Sunday's match between Germany and Russia. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...