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Encyclopedia > Manchester bombing by IRA

On Saturday June 15, 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army exploded a 3300lb bomb in central Manchester. Due to a speedy evacuation, nobody was killed by the explosion, but 206 people were injured, and there was extensive property damage.


The bomb was contained in a Ford van, which was parked in Corporation Street, between the Arndale Centre and the city's Marks_&_Spencer store, right in the heart of the city's shopping area.


The van was parked at about 9:20am, and the bomb exploded just under 2 hours later. Most windows in nearby buildings were blown out, and falling glass caused the majority of the injuries. The blast was audible over 8 miles away.


Several buildings close to the epicenter had to be demolished, and many more were closed for months afterwards to allow structural repairs. Overall, 70,000 square metres of retail and office space had to be reconstructed. While the bulk of the rebuilding work was complete by 2000, further redevelopment of affected buildings (notably the northern corner of the Arndale Centre) is still underway at the end of 2004.


Some have claimed the event turned out to be positive for the city, as many of the buildings demolished or extensively rebuilt were regarded as eyesores, and the resulting redevelopment of the surrounding area has generated millions of pounds of investment.


A post box that survived the blast, despite being only yards from the centre of the explosion, now carries a small brass plaque recording the bombing.


External links:

  • BBC report of the bombing (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/15/newsid_2527000/2527009.stm)
  • Rebuilding Manchester (http://www.rebuilding-manchester.co.uk/) -- series of articles and photos
  • The Manchester Bombing (http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/buildings/bombing.html) A further report of the bombing.

  Results from FactBites:
 
THE PROVISIONAL IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY (1641 words)
The IRA has been observing a cease-fire since July 1997 (although hardline splinter groups such as the Real IRA are still active on the island of Great Britain) and previously observed a cease-fire from 1 September 1994 to February 1996.
The IRA later stated that their target was a colour guard of British soldiers, and that the timer had gone off prematurely.
IRA detonated a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, which killed 2 and caused approximately £350m of damage, including the near destruction of St. Ethelburga's Bishopsgate.
Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997: Information from Answers.com (7628 words)
The IRA had an official policy of bombing only targets in England (not the Celtic countries of Scotland and Wales), although they detonated a bomb at an oil terminal in the Shetland Isles in 1981 while Queen Elizabeth II was performing the official opening of the terminal.
A grisly IRA technique used in the early 1990s was the "proxy bomb" -a sort of involuntary suicide bomb, where a victim was kidnapped and forced to drive a car bomb into its target.
In February 2005, the IRA was denounced by relatives of Robert McCartney, who was murdered in a brawl in a public house in Belfast by IRA members, who subsequently destroyed the evidence at the scene and intimidated the witnesses.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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