A BRIGHT Saturday afternoon in Warrington, and two little boys go

shopping.

Three-year-old Johnathan Ball was jingling pennies in his pocket as he

and his friend searched for Mother's Day gifts. Tim Parry, (12) wanted a

pair of Everton shorts.

Then came unimaginable horror as two Semtex bombs exploded at waist

height maiming and killing the unsuspecting shoppers. In a split second

angel-faced Johnathan lay dead, his body torn apart by the blast. Tim,

his face blown off, hung to life by a thread.

Nearly sixty others were injured. Some lost limbs. Others suffered

terrible wounds.

But it was the senseless, savage brutality towards the innocents,

Johnathan and Tim that sent a shockwave of repugnance coursing through

the nation.

Two little boys without a care in the world. Johnathan, far too young

to comprehend the legacy of hatred that drives terrorists to acts of

pointless carnage. Tim, his only thoughts on football.

For their devastated families there is the torment of the

stomach-churning hypocrisy of an IRA message of 'sympathy.' Nothing

could be more certain to add to an already unbearable burden of grief

and pain.

This was a cold-blooded and calculated outrage carried out by

professional terrorists against the softest of soft targets.

There can only be one response. The war against these evil men must be

waged unrelentingly, till every last one is brought to justice.