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Now on the Wednesday documentary, Peter Taylor presents The Age of Terror, a four-part series

exploring the modern history of political violence. Today's program looks at the dramatic

events in 1987 which changed the political landscape of Northern Ireland. A cargo of

Libyan arms bound for Ireland is intercepted in French waters. In the same week, IRA plans

to bomb a memorial service in the border town of Enniskillin are approaching completion.

In The Age of Terror, some conflicts feel like they might never end. The violence relentless,

incompetence, irreconcilable. In 1987, I saw no way out of this never-neverland in Northern

Ireland. But in the space of ten days, I watched two dramatic events unfold that would prove

me wrong. The first was an eye-opening revelation of how rogue states sponsor terrorism.

There was a box which said, Libyan, army weaponry or war to that effect. It said Libyan

armed forces, I think. Well, that's fairly specific, isn't it, Peter?

Libyan forces. The second was bloody and brutal, an infamous massacre of civilians.

I had just time to think that it's an explosion when I was whipped off my feet. It's the

scene out of a movie. It's just Panthemonia, people running, screaming, people lying, injured

on the ground. It was like something out of a horror movie basically, and the blood

was everywhere.

These events could have driven Northern Ireland into the abyss. Instead, as this BBC

programme will show, they were destined to mark the beginning of the long road to peace.

On the morning of the 30th of October 1987, a French customs patrol intercepted a ship,

the Exund off the coast of Brittany. When they boarded, the officers were surprised

...