Bombings of King's Cross and Euston stations

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Bombings of King's Cross and Euston stations
Part of
Provisional IRA

The King's Cross station and Euston station bombings were two bombing attacks on 10 September 1973 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) that targeted two mainline railway stations in central London. The blasts wounded 13 civilians, some of whom were seriously injured, and also caused large-scale but superficial damage.[1] This was a second wave of bombing attacks launched by the IRA in England in 1973 after the Old Bailey car bombing earlier in the year which had killed one and injured around 200 civilians.[2][3]

Background

Further information: Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign

In 1971, during

Irish Republicanism, and provide a morale boost to its supporters.[citation needed
]

The effects of the previous

Active Service Unit that had carried it out had been arrested by the British police whilst trying to leave England before the bombs they had planted detonated.[4] Drawing the tactical lesson that large teams were a security liability, for the second wave of bombings in England later in 1973, instead of sending a large team to carry it out with orders to withdraw back to Ireland immediately afterwards, smaller detached "cell" units of about 3-4 personnel were sent to carry out the operation, with instructions to remain in England afterwards and wage a campaign of bombings around England upon a variety of targets.[citation needed
]

There were bombings on 8 September 1973, including one at Victoria railway station which injured four civilians.[5]

Bombings

On 10 September 1973 a bomb (with no warning issued beforehand) exploded at King's Cross railway station in the booking hall at 12.24 p.m. when a youth of around 16/17 years of age walked up to the entrance of the station's old booking hall and threw a bag into it which contained a 3 lb (1.4 kg) device, which detonated, shattering glass throughout the hall and throwing a baggage trolley several feet into the air. The youth then fled into the station's crowd and escaped the scene.

Approximately 45 minutes after the attack at King's Cross, after a telephone called warning 5 minutes beforehand by a man with an Irish accent to the

photofit
picture of a 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) tall 16/17-year-old youth they were seeking in regard to the King's Cross attack.

Subsequent events

On 12 September 1973 two more bombs exploded, one in Oxford Street and another in Sloane Square, targeting retail shopping centres. Police subsequently announced that they were looking for five people in connection with this second wave of bomb attacks in England.[6][7]

Judith Ward was later wrongly convicted for having been involved in the late 1973 London bombings, along with the M62 coach bombing. She was later acquitted. No one else was brought to trial for this IRA bombing campaign.[8]

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  2. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  3. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. 8 March 1973. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  4. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY 14 November 1973: IRA gang convicted of London bombings". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  5. Illustrated London News
    . 27 October 1973. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  6. ^ Bruce Wallace and James MacManus. "Yard hunts the bomber with a baby face | From". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  7. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY 10 September 1973: Bomb blasts rock central London". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  8. ^ "BBC ON THIS DAY 4 November 1974: M62 bomber jailed for life". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

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