Glenanne barracks bombing

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Glenanne barracks bombing
Part of The Troubles

Part of the UDR barracks after the attack
Glenanne barracks bombing is located in Northern Ireland
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Location near Mountnorris, County Armagh, Northern Ireland
Date 31 May 1991
23:30 (UTC)
Attack type Bombing
Weapon(s) Truck bomb
Deaths 3 soldiers
Injured 10 soldiers, 4 civilians
Perpetrator Provisional IRA

The Glenanne barracks bombing was a large truck bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA against a British Army (Ulster Defence Regiment) base at Glenanne, near Mountnorris, County Armagh. The bombing took place on 31 May 1991 and left three soldiers killed and 14 people wounded, four of them civilians.

Contents

[edit] Background

The bombing took place at a time when the Northern Ireland Office arranged multi-party talks (known as the Brooke/Mayhew talks) on the future of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin members were not invited to attend because of their links with the IRA, which prevented them from being recognized as a 'constitutional' party. The talks ended in failure soon after.[1]

Built in 1972, the barracks housed two companies of the 2nd County Armagh battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). Seen as an outpost, it sat on the dividing line between a Protestant area and a Catholic area. Seven UDR soldiers from the base had already been killed during "The Troubles". It had outlived its operational usefulness and a decision had already been taken to close it down.[2] However, the lack of interest in rebuilding the compound after the bombing would raise some controversy among unionists.[3]

[edit] The bombing

At 11:30 PM, a truck loaded with 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) of high explosive was rolled down a hill at the rear of the barracks and crashed through the perimeter fence.[4][5] The bomb was then triggered either by automatic fire – heard by some witnesses before the main blast[5][nb 1] – or by a radar beacon, which the IRA employed in order to prevent radio-jamming countermeasures.[7]

The blast left a deep crater[4] and it could be heard over 30 miles away, as far as Dundalk.[3][5] This was the biggest bomb exploded by the IRA until then.[8] Most of the UDR base was destroyed by the blast and the fire that followed.[5] At first, a massive mortar attack was suspected.[8]

Three UDR soldiers – Paul Blakely (30), Robert Crozier (46), Sidney Hamilton (44) – were killed and ten were wounded.[5] Four civilians were also wounded.[5]

The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility two days later.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Geraghty describes an IRA technique which primed the explosive devices by shooting at two copper plates inside the vehicle -separated only by a few millimeters-which then made contact and triggered the bomb inside.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bew, Paul and Gillespie, Gordon (1999). Northern Ireland: a chronology of the troubles 1968-1999. Gill & Macmillan, p. 267
  2. ^ Furniss Potter, page 351
  3. ^ a b Fair website
  4. ^ a b Oppenheimer, A.R. (2009). IRA: The Bombs and the Bullets. Dublin: Irish Academic Press. p. 123. ISBN 9780716528951. 
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Whitney, Craig. "I.R.A. Says It Planted Truck Bomb That Killed 3". The New York Times, 2 June 1991.
  6. ^ Geraghty, page 209
  7. ^ Geraghty, page 210.
  8. ^ a b The Irish Emigrant, June 3 1991: Another three dead

[edit] External links

[edit] Sources

  • Geraghty, Tony: The Irish War. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 0801864569
  • Furniss Potter, John: A Testimony to Courage - The Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992. Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001. ISBN 0850528194

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England
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Elsewhere
Gibraltar 1988 – Osnabrück barracks 1996

Coordinates: 54°14′14.54″N 6°30′17.42″W / 54.2373722°N 6.5048389°W / 54.2373722; -6.5048389

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