Warrington bomb attacks
| Warrington bombings | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
| Location | Warrington, Cheshire, England |
| Date | 26 February 1993 04:00 (GMT) 20 March 1993 12:25 (GMT) |
| Target | 1st attack: a district pressure gas storage facility 2nd attack: businesses on Bridge Street, Warrington |
| Attack type | Bombing |
| Deaths | 2 |
| Injured | 56[1] |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
The Warrington bombings were two separate bombing attacks that happened during early 1993 in Warrington, England. The first attack happened in February when a bomb exploded at a district pressure gas storage facility. It caused extensive damage but no injuries; however, a police officer was shot and injured by one of the bombers.[2] The second attack happened in March on Bridge Street. Two small bombs exploded in litter bins outside a Boots store and a McDonald's restaurant[3], killing two children and injuring many other people. Although a warning or warnings had been sent, the area was not evacuated in time. Both attacks were perpetrated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA).[4]
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[edit] First attack
The first attack took place on 26 February 1993. Three devices exploded at the gas storage facility causing extensive damage.[2] A police officer, PC Mark Toker, was shot and injured after stopping a van connected to the attacks, and a car was hijacked.[2][5]
[edit] Second attack
Shortly before midday on 20 March 1993, telephone help charity The Samaritans received a coded message that a bomb was going to be detonated outside the Boots shop in Liverpool, about 15 miles (24 km) away from Warrington. Merseyside Police investigated, and also warned the Cheshire Constabulary (who patrolled Warrington). About 30 minutes later, at about 12:25,[6][7][8][9] two bombs exploded on Bridge Street in Warrington. The blasts happened within a minute of each-other.[6] One exploded outside Boots and McDonalds, showering fifty children in the restaurant with glass[10], and one outside the Argos catalogue store. The area was crowded with shoppers. Witnesses said that "the first explosion drove panicking shoppers into the path of the next blast just seconds later". It was later found that the bombs had been placed inside cast-iron litter bins, causing large amounts of shrapnel.[9] Buses were organized to ferry people away from the scene and 20 paramedics and crews from 17 ambulances were sent to deal with the aftermath.
Three-year-old Johnathan Ball died at the scene, while his babysitter survived.[11] The second victim, 12-year-old Tim Parry, who received the full force of the blast, was gravely wounded. He died on 25 March 1993 when doctors switched his life support machine off, having asked permission to do so from his family, after a series of tests had found minimal brain activity.[12] Fifty-four other people were injured, four of them seriously.[2]
The day after the bombing, the IRA admitted that its volunteers had planted the bombs. In a statement, it said:
Responsibility for the tragic and deeply regrettable death and injuries caused in Warrington yesterday lies squarely at the door of those in the British authorities who deliberately failed to act on precise and adequate warnings.[13]
A day later, an IRA spokesman said that "two precise warnings" had been given "in adequate time", one to the Samaritans and one to Merseyside Police.[7] He added: "You don't provide warnings if it is your intention to kill".[9] Cheshire's assistant chief constable denied there had been a second warning and said: "If the IRA think they can pass on their responsibility for this terrible act by issuing such a nonsensical statement, they have sadly underestimated the understanding of the British public".[7]
[edit] Aftermath
On 1 April 1993, the Irish Government announced measures designed to make extradition easier from the Republic of Ireland to the United Kingdom.[14]
In 1994 Irish rock band The Cranberries released the song "Zombie", which was written as a protest to the bombings. The song went on to become one of their biggest hits.[15]
The parents of Tim Parry set up the Tim Parry Trust Fund to promote greater understanding between Great Britain and the two parts of Ireland.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ Child killed in Warrington bomb attack, BBC On This Day, 20 March 1993
- ^ a b c d Hansard – Terrorist Incidents
- ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/boy-of-four-dies-as-ira-bombers-attack-shoppers-many-shoppers-injured-as-blasts-rip-through-busy-market-1499148.html
- ^ BBC:IRA campaign in England
- ^ Gas bombers may be freed, This is Cheshire, 18 May 2000
- ^ a b "May God forgive them, because we can't". The Independent. 22 March 1993.
- ^ a b c "IRA insists Warrington bomb alerts were given". The Independent. 23 March 1993.
- ^ "Child, 4, dies in British bombing". Record Journal (from the Associated Pres). 21 March 1993.
- ^ a b c "Outrage over death of boy in bombing a setback for the IRA". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 23 March 1993.
- ^ http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/features/warringtonbombing/4274501.Ron_Riley_recalls_saving_Bronwen_Vickers__life/
- ^ "Child killed in Warrington bomb attack: 1993" BBC - On This Day - 20 March 1993. Retrieved 14 April 2011
- ^ Rage at I.R.A. Grows in England As Second Boy Dies From a Bomb, New York Times, 26 March 1993
- ^ English, Richard. Armed Struggle: The history of the IRA. Pan MacMillan, 2004. p.279
- ^ a b Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing. 2008. pp. 1314–1315. ISBN 97840185041.
- ^ Peter Buckley, Jonathan Buckley (2003). The Rough Guide to Rock. Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-105-4.
[edit] External links
- Memorial service in 2008 for the victims
- The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace
- Child killed in Warrington bomb attack — from the BBC News On This Day feature
- The Damien Walsh Memorial Lecture by Roy Greenslade, 4 August 1998 "Some time later, political analysts Paul Bew and Gordon Gillespie, commented that the Warrington bombing created 'a wave of revulsion throughout the British Isles against terrorist killings.' What they meant, of course, was that media coverage of the deaths created a wave of revulsion."
[edit] See also
- Chronology of the Northern Ireland Troubles and peace process
- Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
- The Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace
