Proxy bomb

The Proxy Bomb (also known as a human bomb was a tactic used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army for a short time in 1990s, whereby people were forced to drive car bombs into British military targets. It has also been used in Colombia by FARC rebels [1]. The tactic has been compared to a suicide bomb , although the bomber in these cases was coerced rather than being a volunteer.

First proxy bomb

In the Autumn of 1990 the IRA Army Council gave approval for what was to be the first of a series of proxy bomb attacks. The plan was to kidnap a civilian, hold their family hostage and force the kidnapped person to take explosives to a target.

In the early hours of 24 October, 1990 armed and masked IRA members (volunteers) took the family of Patrick "Patsy" Gillespie hostage. Gillespie was a Catholic who worked as a cook for the British Army and so seen by the IRA as a collaborator and legitimate target.

The IRA forced him to drive a car loaded with 1,000 pounds of explosives to the British Army checkpoint at Coshquin on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. When he arrived at the checkpoint the bomb was detonated by remote control killing Gillespie and five soldiers from the Kings Regiment.

At Gillespie's funeral Bishop Edward Daly said the IRA and its supporters were..."the complete contradiction of Christianity. They may say they are followers of Christ. Some of them may even still engage in the hypocrisy of coming to church, but their lives and their works proclaim clearly that they follow Satan."

Other proxy bombs

On the same day, there were two other proxy bomb attacks in Northern Ireland. In one, a 65 year old man James McEvoy was forced to drive a bomb into a British Army checkpoint outside Newry. He managed to jump clear at the last moment, suffering a broken leg, but Ranger Cyril J. Smith QGM aged 21 from B. Coy. 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rangers was killed and 13 were injured. Smith was posthumously awarded the QGM as he attempted to warn his colleagues about the bomb rather than running for cover.

In another attack on Lisanelly Army base in Omagh, the proxy bomber was strapped into the car to keep him from escaping, while his wife and children were held hostage. However, the bomb failed to explode.

There were a few more attacks like these in the next month the last one being a failed attempt to destroy the checkpoint at Roslea, County Fermanagh, on 21 December. The same checkpoint was the subject of a heavy machine gun attack a week later. Another proxy bomb wrecked a UDR base in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, in early February 1991, but there were no fatalities. The proxy bomb tactic caused some outrage in both the Unionist and Nationalist community. In spite of this, there were a few more attacks before the tactic was stopped. The final IRA use of proxy bombs came on 24 April, 1993, when they forced two London taxi drivers to drive bombs towards Downing Street and New Scotland Yard. There were no casualties, however, as the drivers managed to shout warnings and to abandon their cars in time. A conventionally delivered bomb was detonated by the IRA on the same day in the financial centre of Bishopsgate in central London.

Effect of the tactic

Overall the proxy bomb tactic had the result of discrediting the armed struggle in the eyes of Republicans and the nationalist community . Given this reaction, which might have been anticipated, two theories have so far appeared to explain why the PIRA employed this tactic.

Ed Moloney has suggested that the tactic may have been calculated to weaken the position of alleged "hawks" in republicanism - those who favoured armed action over electoral politics. At the same time Maloney argues that the widespread public revulsion would have strengthening the position of alleged "doves" in the PIRA such as Gerry Adams who has claimed he was considering how Republicanism could abandon violence and focus on electoral politics.

The second theory alleges British Security forces collusion in the attacks, and the deliberate promotion of the tactic by Martin McGuinness who, it is claimed, was working as an agent for the British. This theory surfaced in mid 2006 when a former operative with the covert Force Research Unit, Martin Ingram, publicly endorsed what he claimed was a transcript of a secretly recorded conversation between McGuinness and his alleged handler in which the tactic is supposedly discussed. McGuinness has denied the claim.

References

• Ed Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA
• Brendan O'Brien, The Long War, the IRA and Sinn Féin

External Links

BBC 1 O'Clock news report from 24 October 1990 on the circumstances, aftermath, and immediate reaction to the two proxy bomb attacks.