Syria helped IRA kill Mountbatten, says paper

LONDON, May 17: Syrian secret agents were involved in the Irish Republican Army8217;s assassination of Lord Mountbatten in 1979, one of the IRA8217;s most spectacular attacks, the Sunday Times reported.

The paper said Syrian military intelligence quot;rewardedquot; the paramilitary group with two million pounds for the murder and other actions. The Sunday Times said its sources for the information was a former IRA activist, Sean O8217;Callaghan, who turned informer and now lives under British Police protection.

The paper said details of the attack on Mountbatten, who died when his boat was blown up off the Irish coast, would be revealed in O8217;Callaghan8217;s autobiography to be published later this month.

Mountbatten was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and the last Viceroy of India.