Phone Tip Leads Police To Bombs

Police acting on telephone warnings found two bombs Thursday beneath an elevated section of a major highway in central England. They destroyed both devices without damage or injury.

The devices were found at a junction of the M-6 motorway at Bescot, 105 miles northwest of London, at least one of them attached to the posts that support the road, police said.

Traffic backed up for miles when police closed the highway and destroyed the bombs. Police evacuated 500 residents from their homes in the area.

There was no claim of responsibility, but warning calls to two hotels in nearby Walsall used an IRA code word, Prime Minister John Major said. He said the IRA also phoned in a threat that forced police to close a junction on the M-1 motorway near Rugby, 40 miles southeast of Walsall.