Two bomb blasts ripped through a British army barracks early today, tearing off part of the roof and injuring nine soldiers. The Irish Republican Army said it set off the blasts.
Police said the bombs were placed side by side near an outside wall of the soldiers' living quarters and tore a 3-by-6-foot hole in it.
At about the time of the explosions, shots were fired from a passing auto at a police car in the same area, but no one was injured, police said. The passing car had Dutch license plates, they said.
In Dublin, the IRA said in a statement circulated to the media that it carried out "the bomb attack in West Germany against Crown forces." The IRA recently has stepped up attacks on British targets on the European Continent.
A police statement said the bombs went off at about 3 a.m. at the Glamorgan Barracks in Duisburg, about 30 miles north of Cologne. The building houses about 100 soldiers.
"Innocent sleeping soldiers were the targets. This avoids the risk of confronting people who are awake," said a spokesman for the British army in West Germany.
"Nine were hurt, but none were hospitalized and all were treated at the scene."
After the blasts, a hole was found in a security fence protecting the barracks, said Duisburg police spokesman Reinhard Pape.
"We suspect they cut a hole in the fence to get to the barracks," Pape said, adding that police did not know whether there was a connection between the bomb blasts and the shooting.