A SOLDIER and a civilian were injured in a bomb explosion in west

Belfast last night. The IRA later claimed responsibility for the attack.

The device went off in the republican Suffolk area as a military

patrol consisting of two Land-Rovers passed waste ground at a road

junction.

Police said they believed the soldier suffered cuts. The civilian

suffered back injuries.

Earlier yesterday two incendiary devices exploded in London. The first

went off in a public house at Victoria bus station. Another exploded at

a Royal Mail sorting office in Farringdon Road.

They caused small fires but no-one was hurt. A third device at the

King Edward House sorting office was made safe.

Scotland Yard said the devices had ''all the hallmarks of the

Provisional IRA''.