Mountainview Tavern attack
| Mountainview Tavern attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of Hand guns Time bomb | |
| Deaths | 5 (4 Protestant civilians, 1 UDA member) |
| Injured | 60 |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade Claimed by Republican Action Force |
On 5 April 1975
Provisional IRA (IRA) volunteers
.
Background and events leading up to the attack
By 1975, the
British government entered into a truce and restarted negotiations. The IRA agreed to halt attacks on the British security forces, and the security forces mostly ended its raids and searches.[1] However, there were dissenters on both sides. Some Provisionals wanted no part of the truce, while British commanders resented being told to stop their operations against the IRA just when—they claimed—they had the Provisionals on the run.[1] The security forces boosted their intelligence offensive during the truce and thoroughly infiltrated the IRA.[1]
There was a rise in
tit-for-tat killings.[1]
The Mountainview Tavern had been attacked before when, on the night of 23 May 1971 the IRA bombed the building with 18-20 lbs of high explosives, the blast injured 18 people.[4]
The attack
The attack was carried out by a three-man
getaway car used in the attack was found abandoned in the Springfield Road area:[citation needed] a stronghold for the IRA. It took rescue services hours to free people from the rubble.[citation needed
]
See also
- Miami Showband killings
- Bayardo Bar attack
- Kingsmill massacre
- Hillcrest Bar bombing
- Shankill road bombing
Sources
References
- ^ a b c d Extracts from The Longest War: Northern Ireland and the IRA by Kevin J. Kelley. Zed Books Ltd, 1988. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
- ^ Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.142
- ^ Taylor, Peter. Brits: The War Against the IRA. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. p.182
- ^ "Northern Ireland - Hansard - UK Parliament".
- ^ "Man arrested over 1975 Shankill bar bombing". BBC News. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2017.