Chelsea Barracks bombing

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Coordinates: 51°29′22″N 0°09′01″W / 51.4895°N 0.1502°W / 51.4895; -0.1502
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Chelsea Barracks bombing
Part of
Provisional IRA

The Chelsea Barracks bombing was an attack carried out by a

Provisional IRA on 10 October 1981, using a remote-controlled nail bomb. The bomb targeted a bus carrying British Army soldiers just outside Chelsea Barracks. The blast killed two civilians and injured 40 people, among them 23 soldiers.[1]

Background

In early October 1981, the

British Government
to match the sacrifice made by the strikers.

Bombing

An IRA Active Service Unit (ASU) in London decided to target members of the British Army Irish Guards regiment and planned to bomb two bus loads of guards on 10 October, as they were entering Chelsea Barracks. The device, believed to be a remote-controlled bomb, was hidden in a laundry van near the barracks, close to the junction of Ebury Bridge Road and St. Barnabas Street.

The bomb was detonated as a single bus passed, carrying 23 Irish Guards.[3] Two other bus loads of Irish Guards were travelling a few minutes behind the one that was hit, so it seems that the bombers missed their main target.[1] Two civilians, Nora Field, 59 and John Breslin, 18, were killed in the blast,[4] and 40 people were injured, 23 of them soldiers, eight of whom received severe injuries.[5][6] It was the worst attack carried out by the IRA in England since the London Hilton bombing, which killed two civilians and injured over 60 others.[7]

Aftermath

The IRA said in a statement the day after the bombing from Dublin that "the attack was aimed at a party of British soldiers". The statement added:

The attack is attributable to the state of war which exists between the British government who occupy Northern Ireland and the oppressed Irish people who strike out through the Irish Republican Army. We await the hypocrisy which will undoubtedly follow from British political leaders whose attitude to Irish victims of their violence in our country only strengthens our conviction in our cause and methods.[8]

The IRA continued bombing targets in England. A week after the Chelsea bombing, the IRA seriously injured Lieutenant-General Sir

Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich
injuring two people.

A year later, on 20 July 1982, two bombs killed 11 British soldiers, and injured 50 soldiers and civilians, during the

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.[14]

Convictions

In 1986, Paul Kavanagh and Thomas Quigley, then aged 29, were given life sentences for the bombing in Chelsea, as well as the booby-trap bomb in Oxford Street.[15] They were released in 1999 after the Good Friday Agreement.[16]

INLA bombing attempt

Four years after the Chelsea Barracks bombing, on 11 November 1985, the

Irish Republican Revolutionary Socialist paramilitary organization the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) again attempted to bomb Chelsea Barracks.[17] An INLA unit placed three bombs right outside the barracks, each weighing about 12.5 pounds (5.7 kg). They were packed with nuts and bolts designed to cause maximum damage, but all three bombs were found and defused before they went off. Patrick McLaughlin, from Derry, was arrested in 1986 over the bombing attempt and was sentenced to life imprisonment. McLaughlin claimed he was innocent that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. In the book INLA: Deadly Divisions Henry McDonald and Jack Holland wrote: "McLaughlin is almost certainly an innocent man ... His links to the bomb team seem to be no more than accidental".[18] [19] A campaign claiming his innocence gathered some momentum in the 1990s.[20] He was released in 1999 as part of the Good Friday Agreement.[21]

Sources

References

  1. ^ a b Long, Christopher. "Chelsea Barracks, an IRA Bomb & the Regiment of the Irish Guards". Christopher A. Long. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  2. ^ Peter Taylor -Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein p.278 -783
  3. ^ Downie, Leonard Jr. (11 October 1981). "IRA Nail Bomb Kills 1, Injures 40 in London". The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  4. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  5. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  6. ^ Murray, Paula (9 September 2012). "IRA bomb left me disabled, but I fought back with the help of Remploy. Now I feel lost". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  7. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  8. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  9. ^ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1981". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  10. ^ AP (18 October 1981). "I.R.A. BOMB WOUNDS A BRITISH GENERAL". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  11. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  12. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  13. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  14. ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  15. ^ "BBC News | UK | IRA prisoners taste freedom".
  16. ^ "Charity cash IRA row". Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  17. ISBN 9781912174270
    .
  18. ^ Henry McDonald & Jack Holland INLA: Deadly Divisions p.260, 261
  19. Independent.co.uk
    . 29 September 1996.
  20. Independent.co.uk
    . 2 September 1994.
  21. ^ "IRA releases delay seen as signal on arms issue".
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