World Notes TERRORISM

Sir Peter Terry was doing a crossword puzzle in a back room in his house in the Staffordshire village of Milford when a gunman opened fire through a rear window, wounding him nine times. The attack left Terry with extensive internal injuries -- as well as two bullets lodged less than an inch from his brain.

The following day, with Terry in stable condition, the Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack. Its grievance was no mystery. Terry had been governor of Gibraltar in 1988 when three I.R.A. guerrillas were shot and killed there in an ambush that was staged by British agents. The I.R.A. members had been spotted parking a car that was mistakenly thought to contain a bomb. London claims that the I.R.A. rebels, who were unarmed, were shot when the agents believed their own lives were at risk.