Chronology of Provisional IRA actions

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This page is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), an Irish paramilitary group. Most of these actions occurred during the Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997 within the civil conflict known as the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Contents 1 1970s 2 1980s 3 1990s 4 2000s 5 References

[edit] 1970s

• 26 June 1970: Three IRA members and two young girls were killed when a bomb being assembled accidentally exploded in the Creggan, Derry.^[1]
• 27 June 1970: IRA men used firearms to defend Clonard monastery in west Belfast, the Short Strand in east Belfast and other nationalist areas from attack by loyalist mobs. Six people (one Catholic and five Protestants) were killed in gun battles.^[2]
• 3–5 July 1970: During the Falls Curfew the Official IRA and Provisional IRA fought a three day gun battle with 3,000 British troops who imposed a curfew on the Lower Falls area of Belfast, over 1,500 rounds were fired by British troops. Four civilians were killed.^[3]
• 6 February 1971: A British soldier on security duties, Gunner Robert Curtis, was killed by Billy Reid in a gun battle in North Belfast. Curtis was the first British soldier to die in Ireland since the 1920s. One IRA man and one Catholic civilian were also killed in shooting.^[4]
• 9 February 1971: An IRA landmine killed five men near a BBC transmitter on Brougher Mountain in County Tyrone. Two of the dead were BBC engineers, the other three were construction workers. It was believed their vehicle was mistaken for a British Army landrover.^[5]
• 10 March 1971: Three off-duty British soldiers were abducted, shot and killed by the IRA.^[6]
• 25 May 1971: A bomb was thrown into Springfield Road police station in Belfast, killing army Sergeant Michael Willetts as he shielded civilians from the blast with his body. He was posthumously awarded the George Cross.^[7][8]
• 9 August 1971: 343 suspects were detained as internment was introduced. In the following two days 17 people were killed in gun battles between the IRA and British Army. Between 1971 and 1975, 1,981 people were interned; 1,874 were Catholic/Republican, while only 107 were Protestant/Loyalist.^[5]
• 16 August 1971: The commander of the Provisionals' Belfast Brigade, Joe Cahill, gave a press conference claiming only 30 IRA members had been interned.^[5][9]
• 23 October 1971: Two female IRA members, Maura Meehan and Dorothy Maguire, were shot and killed by the British Army in the Lower Falls area of Belfast.^[8]
• 4 December 1971: The McGurk's Bar bombing kills 15 people. Although the IRA were initially blamed, it later emerged that the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) were responsible.^[10]
• 11 December 1971: A bomb attack on a furniture shop on the Shankill Road in Belfast killed four Protestant civilians, including two children.^[8]
• 18 December 1971: Three IRA members died in Magherafelt, County Londonderry, when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.^[5]
• 21 February 1972: Four IRA members died in Belfast when a bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.^[11]
• 4 March 1972: A bomb exploded at the Abercorn Restaurant in Belfast without any warning. Two civilians were killed and over 100 people injured. The IRA were blamed, but denied responsibility.^[12]
• 11 June 1972: Colonel Gaddafi announced that he had supplied arms to "revolutionaries" in Ireland. There were shooting incidents across Belfast and Northern Ireland, including a gun battle between Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries in the Oldpark area of Belfast. Two Catholics, a Protestant, and a British soldier were killed.^[11]
• 24 June 1972: Three British Army soldiers were killed by an IRA land mine attack near Dungiven, County Londonderry.^[11]
• 26 June–8 July 1972: IRA ceasefire and talks with British government.^[13]
• 14 July 1972: Three British Army soldiers, two IRA members, and a Protestant civilian were shot and killed during separate gun battles in Belfast.^[11]
• 21 July 1972: On "Bloody Friday" 22 bombs in Belfast killed nine people and seriously injured 130 others.^[14] The IRA officially apologised for this set of attacks in 2002.^[15]
• 31 July 1972: Three car bombs exploded in the Claudy bombings, killing nine people on Claudy High Street near Derry. The IRA have always denied involvement, but they are believed to have been responsible.^[16] In Operation Motorman, the biggest British military operation since the Suez crisis, the army used 12,000 soldiers supported by tanks and bulldozers to dismantle barricades and take IRA held "no go areas" in Belfast and Derry.^[11]
• 22 August 1972: A bomb prematurely exploded at a customs post in Newry, County Down, killing nine people, including three IRA members.^[11]
• 7 December 1972: Mother of ten, Jean McConville, was abducted and killed by the IRA, allegedly for informing the British Army of IRA activities, although her family contend that she was killed for comforting a wounded British soldier.^[17] The IRA denied any involvement in the killing until the 1990s, when it acknowledged its action and helped to locate the body.^[18]
• 8 March 1973: The Provisional IRA conducted its first operation in mainland Britain, planting four car bombs in London. Two bombs exploded, killing one person and injuring 180 others. Ten members of the IRA team, including Gerry Kelly, Dolours Price and Marian Price, were arrested at Heathrow Airport trying to leave the country.^[19]
• 17 May 1973: A booby trap bomb in Omagh, County Tyrone killed four off-duty British Army soldiers. A fifth soldier died of his injuries on 3 June.^[20]
• 31 October 1973: Mountjoy Prison helicopter escape. Three IRA members escaped from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin after a hijacked helicopter landed in the exercise yard. One of the escapees was former IRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey.^[20]
• 4 February 1974: Twelve people were killed in the M62 Coach Bombing, when a bomb exploded on a coach as it was travelling along the M62 motorway at Birkenshaw. The dead included nine soldiers, and two young children.^[21]
• 17 June 1974: A bomb exploded at the Houses of Parliament in London, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.^[22]
• 5 October 1974: The Guildford pub bombing kills five and injures 182. The motive for the bombing was that the pub attacked was frequented by off-duty, unarmed soldiers. Four people, dubbed the "Guildford Four", would be convicted for the bombing and imprisoned for life. Fifteen years later Lord Lane of the Court of Appeal would overturn their convictions noting "the investigating officers must have lied". Some had spent the entire fifteen years in prison, years after the IRA men who carried out the attacks admitted them to British police. No police officer was ever charged.
• 7 November 1974: An off-duty soldier and a civilian were killed when a bomb was thrown through the window of the Kings Head pub in Woolwich, and 28 people were injured. Two British soldiers were killed by a bomb near near Stewartstown, County Tyrone.^[23]
• 21 November 1974: In the Birmingham Pub Bombings bombs in two pubs kill 19. The "Birmingham Six" would be tried for this and convicted. Many years later, after new evidence of police fabrication and suppression of evidence, their convictions would be quashed and they would be released.
• 21 December 1974: A bomb was defused in Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London. A second bomb was defused in the King's Arms public house in Warminster, Wiltshire.^[23]
• 22 December 1974: The IRA leadership declared a temporary ceasefire, pending talks with British government officials. Shortly before the ceasefire came into effect, the IRA bombed the London home of the Conservative Party leader and former Prime Minister Edward Heath.^[24]
• 21 January 1975: Two IRA members driving along Victoria Street, Belfast were killed when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely. There were also a series of bomb attacks across Belfast.^[25]
• 10 February 1975: The IRA leadership declare a truce. The ceasefire was to last officially until 23 January 1976, however it was not respected by all IRA units and violence continues throughout the year.
• 27 February 1975: Off-duty police officer Stephen Tibble was shot and killed as he joined in the chase of a suspect on his motorbike in Barons Court, London. The suspect had been spotted by a detective coming out of a house which was later discovered to be an IRA bomb factory.^[26]
• 17 July 1975: The IRA killed four British soldiers in a remote controlled bomb attack near Forkhill, County Armagh.^[27]
• 13 August 1975: Four Protestant civilians and a member of the UVF were killed in a gun and bomb attack on the Bayardo Bar in Belfast.^[25]
• 27 August 1975: A bomb exploded without warning at the Caterham Arms public house, in Caterham, Surrey. 10 off-duty soldiers and 23 civilians were injured.^[25]
• 28 August 1975: Seven people were injured when a bomb exploded in Oxford Street, London. A telephone warning was issued to The Sun newspaper five minutes before the explosion.^[28]
• 1 September 1975: The IRA, using the covername South Armagh Republican Action Force, killed five Protestant civilians and injured seven at an Orange Hall in Newtownhamilton, County Armagh.^[25]
• 5 September 1975: Two people are killed and 63 injured when an IRA bomb explodes in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in London. ^[29]
• 29 October 1975: The IRA shot and killed Robert Elliman (27), then a member of the Official IRA (OIRA), in McKenna's Bar in the Markets area of Belfast. Between 29 October 1975 and 12 November 1975, 11 people were to die in the continuing feud between the two wings of the IRA. Most of those killed were members of the 'official' republican movement.
• 3 November 1975: A 33 year old lawyer was injured by a car bomb in Connaught Square, London W2.^[28]
• 27 November 1975: The IRA killed businessman and TV personality Ross McWhirter, who with his brother Norris McWhirter, had offered reward money to anyone who would inform on the IRA.^[30]
• 6–12 December 1975: Four IRA members held two people hostage in the Balcombe Street Siege.^[31]
• 5 January 1976: The IRA, operating under the cover name of the South Armagh Republican Action Force, killed ten Protestant workers in the Kingsmill massacre, County Armagh in retaliation for the Reavey and O'Dowd killings by loyalist paramilitaries.^[32]
• 23 January 1976: The IRA ceasefire was officially called off.^[33]
• 1 March 1976: Merlyn Rees, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that people convicted of terrorist offences would no longer be entitled to Special Category Status, and would be treated as ordinary criminals.^[33]
• 21 July 1976: An landmine killed Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the newly appointed British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, and his secretary Judith Cook.^[34]
• 14 September 1976: The blanket protest began when IRA prisoner Kieran Nugent refused to wear prison clothing, in protest at the loss of Special Category Status.^[33]
• 2 February 1977: Jeffrey Agate (59), then Managing Director of the American Du Pont factory in Derry was shot and killed by members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) outside his home at Talbot Park, Derry. This killing marked the beginning of a series of attacks on businessmen. There were further killings on 2 March 1977 and 14 March 1977.
• 2 June 1977: Three members of a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol were shot and killed by Irish Republican Army (IRA) snipers near Ardboe, County Tyrone. Part of ongoing attacks on Police and Army.
• 17 February 1978: Twelve Protestant civilians were killed and 23 badly injured in the La Mon Restaurant Bombing, at Gransha near Belfast.^[35]
• 20 June 1978: Three IRA members and a Protestant civilian were shot and killed by undercover British Army soldiers during an attempted bombing at a Post Office depot in Ballysillan Road, Belfast.^[35]
• 14 November 1978: The IRA injured 37 people in a number of bomb attacks in Armagh, Belfast, Castlederg, Cookstown, Derry and Enniskillen. These attacks were the start of a renewed bombing campaign, and over 50 bombs exploded in the following week.^[35]
• 5 January 1979: Two IRA members were killed in Ardoyne, Belfast, when the bomb they were transporting in a car exploded prematurely.^[36]
• 4 February 1979: Former prison officer Patrick MacKin (60), and his wife Violet (58), were shot and killed by the IRA at their home in Oldpark Road, Belfast. This was part of an escalating campaign against prison officers, co-inciding with the Dirty protest and Blanket protest in the Maze prison.^[36]
• 22 March 1979: Richard Sykes, then British Ambassador to the Netherlands, and his Dutch valet, Krel Straub, were killed in a gun attack in Den Haag, Netherlands. The IRA also carried out 24 bomb attacks across Northern Ireland.^[36]
• 17 April 1979: Four RUC officers were killed when the IRA exploded an estimated 1,000 pound van bomb at Bessbrook, County Armagh, believed to be the largest bomb used by the IRA up to that point.^[36]
• 2 August 1979: Two British soldiers were killed by the IRA in a landmine attack at Cathedral Road, Armagh.^[36]
• August 27, 1979: An IRA bomb kills Earl Mountbatten of Burma at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, the British Queen's first cousin, as well as The Dowager Baroness Brabourne, Mountbatten's elder daughter's mother-in-law (aged 83), The Hon. Nicholas Knatchbull, Mountbatten's elder daughter's fourth son (aged 14) and Paul Maxwell, a 15 year old Protestant youth from County Fermanagh who was working as a crew member. On the same day the IRA kill 18 British soldiers at Narrow Water, near Newry, County Down; they first planted one bomb, which killing six, and then begin firing with sniper rifles at soldiers, driving them to cover at a nearby gate where a second bomb explodes, killing 12 others.^[36]
• 16 December 1979: A landmine bomb killed four British soldiers near Dungannon, County Tyrone. Another soldier was killed by a booby-trap bomb at Forkhill, County Armagh. A former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), James Fowler, was shot and killed by the IRA in Omagh, County Tyrone.^[36]

[edit] 1980s

• 6 January 1980: Three members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) were killed by a landmine near Castlewellan, County Down.^[37]
• 18 January 1980: An IRA bomb detonated prematurely on a train near Dunmurry, resulting in three deaths including one of the bombers.^[38]
• 27 October 1980: Seven republican prisoners, including Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney and Raymond McCartney, began the 1980 hunger strike.^[39]
• 16 December 1980: IRA prisoner Gerard Tuite, who had been remanded in connection with 1978 bombing offences in Londonm, escaped from Brixton Prison in London, along with armed robber Jimmy Moody and another prisoner.^[37]
• 21 January 1981: Unionist politician Norman Stronge and his son James were killed in an IRA attack on their home, Tynan Abbey, near Middletown, County Armagh.^[40]
• 6 February 1981: The British coal ship Nelly M is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit while at anchor in Lough Foyle.^[41]
• 1 March 1981: The 1981 hunger strike began in the Maze Prison when IRA prisoner Bobby Sands refused food.^[40]
• 10 April 1981: Bobby Sands was elected Member of Parliament at Westminster for the Northern Ireland constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone in a by-election. The moderate nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party had decided not to run a candidate in protest at the British government's handling of the protest, which left Sands as the only nationalist candidate. Sands had been on a hunger strike for "Prisoner of War" or Special Category Status for 41 days prior to being elected.^[42]
• 5 May 1981: Bobby Sands died after 66 days on hunger strike. His death caused riots in many parts of Northern Ireland, and also in the Republic of Ireland. An estimated 100,000 people attended his funeral.^[40]
• 9 May 1981: A bomb exploded at an oil terminal in the Shetland Islands, while Queen Elizabeth II was attending a nearby function to mark the opening of the terminal.^[40]
• 19 May 1981: Five British Army soldiers were killed when the armoured vehicle they were traveling in drove over a landmine in Bessbrook, County Armagh.^[40]
• 10 June 1981: Eight IRA prisoners being held on remand at Crumlin Road Jail in Belfast escaped after taking prison officers hostage, taking their uniforms and shooting their way out of the prison using three handguns that had been smuggled in.^[40]
• 3 October 1981: The hunger strike was called off, due to pressure from the prisoners' families who made it clear they would ask for medical intervention to save their lives.^[40]
• 10 October 1981: A bomb blast at Chelsea Barracks in London killed two people and injured 40, including 23 soldiers.^[40]
• 26 October 1981: A bomb exploded at a Wimpy Bar in Oxford Street, London, killing the bomb disposal officer trying to defuse it.^[43][44]
• 14 November 1981: The IRA killed Ulster Unionist Party MP Rev Robert Bradford along with the caretaker of a community centre. Irish Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald and former taoiseach and opposition leader Charles Haughey condemned the killings in the Dáil Éireann. SDLP party leader John Hume accused the IRA of waging a campaign of "sectarian genocide".^[40][45]
• 23 March 1982: A British coal ship, the St. Bedan, is bombed and sunk by an IRA unit while at anchor in Lough Foyle.^[46]
• 25 March 1982: Three British soldiers were killed and five other people injured in an IRA gun attack on Crocus Street, off the Springfield Road in west Belfast. It is believed an M60 machine gun was used during the attack.^[47]
• 20 July 1982: The Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: In Hyde Park, a bomb killed two members of the Household Cavalry performing ceremonial duties in the park, and seven of their horses were also killed. Another device exploded underneath a bandstand in Regents Park, killing seven bandsmen from the Royal Green Jackets as they played music to spectators.^[48]
• 25 September 1983: 38 IRA prisoners took part in the Maze Prison escape. One guard died of a heart attack during the escape, and six others were shot or stabbed.^[49]
• 10 December 1983: A bomb exploded at the Royal Artillery Barracks in London, injuring three people.^[43]
• 17 December 1983: The Harrods bombing in London killed six people including three police officers, and injured 75 other people.^[50]
• 26 December 1983: The IRA was blamed for a bombing in London which later is revealed to be the result of the Abu Nidal Organisation.^[51]
• 12 October 1984: In the Brighton hotel bombing, a bomb in the Grand Hotel kills five in a failed attempt to assassinate members of the British cabinet. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escapes death. Several others including Margaret Tebbit, wife of Norman Tebbit, were left permanently disabled.^[52][53]
• 4 December 1984: Two IRA men and one British soldier were killed in an exchange of fire after an attempted bombing in Kesh, County Fermanagh.
• 28 February 1985: A mortar attack on an RUC police station in Newry killed 9 officers.^[54]
• 26 April 1986: The Special Air Service (SAS) killed IRA member Séamus McElwaine in Roslea, County Fermanagh. At an inquest held in 1993, McElwaine was found to have been unlawfully killed.^[55][56]
• 23 March 1987: 31 people were injured in a car bomb attack at Rheindahlen Military Complex, near Mönchengladbach in Germany.^[57]
• 8 May 1987: The SAS ambushed members of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade as they attempted to attack an RUC station in Loughgall, and all eight IRA men were killed.^[58]
• 8 November 1987: The Remembrance Day Bombing at Enniskillen killed 11 civilians, and injured 63 people.^[59]
• 6 March 1988: Operation Flavius: Three unarmed IRA members, Daniel McCann, Sean Savage and Mairead Farrell, were killed by the SAS in Gibraltar, as they were planning an attack on a public military parade. Although initial reports claimed the three had been shot and killed when about to set off a massive car bomb, within 24 hours the Foreign Secretary, Geoffrey Howe, was forced to admit this was not the case. However, a car used by the three was found in Marbella two days after the killings containing 140 lb of Semtex, timed to go off during the changing of the guard.^[60]
• 16 March 1988: Milltown Cemetery attack: At the funeral of the three IRA members killed in Gibraltar, Michael Stone, a member of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), launched hand grenades during the graveside oration, killing three people and injuring over fifty.^[61]
• 19 March 1988: Corporals killings: During the funeral of IRA member Kevin Brady, killed in the cemetery attack by Michael Stone, a car approached the funeral procession at high speed. The car was surrounded by mourners, and two men later identified as corporals in the British Army were overpowered, dragged from the car, taken to waste ground and shot dead.^[62]
• 15 June 1988: Six off-duty British soldiers were killed by an IRA booby trap bomb attached to their minibus in Market Square, Lisburn after a local fun run.^[63]
• 1 August 1988: One soldier, Lance Corporal Michael Robbins, was killed and a further nine were injured by a timer device. The attack was the first Provisional IRA bomb on the UK mainland in four years. The target was the British Army base at the Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, North London. ^[64][65][66]
• 30 August 1988: 3 IRA members, Brian Mullin and brothers Gerard and Martin Harte, were killed in an SAS ambush near Drumnakilly, County Tyrone, as they attempted to kill an off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment.^[67]
• 19 June 1989: A bomb exploded at a British Army base in Osnabruck, Germany. Nobody was injured, but the explosion caused damage estimated at £75,000.^[68][69]
• 22 September 1989: Ten Royal Marine bandsmen were killed and 22 injured in the bombing of their base in Deal in Kent.^[70]
• 13 December 1989 Two British soldiers were killed at a checkpoint near Rosslea, County Fermanagh. The attack was the only recorded use of a flamethrower by the IRA.^[71]

[edit] 1990s

• 16 May 1990: The IRA detonated a bomb under a military minubus in London, killing Sgt Charles Chapman, and injuring four other people.^[43][72]
• 27 May 1990: Two Australian tourists were shot and killed in the Netherlands, having been mistaken for off-duty British soldiers from a base across the German border.^[73]
• 1 June 1990: A British Royal Artillery officer was killed by the IRA in Dortmund in the then West Germany.^[72]
• 25 June 1990: A bomb exploded at the Carlton Club in London, injuring 20 people.^[43]
• 20 July 1990: The IRA detonated a bomb at the London Stock Exchange.^[74]
• 30 July 1990 Ian Gow MP was killed when a device exploded under his car as he was leaving his home.^[73]
• 18 September 1990: The IRA attempted to kill Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry at his Staffordshire home. Terry had been a prime target since his days as Governor of Gibraltar, where he signed the documents allowing the SAS to pursue IRA terrorists. The revenge attack took place at 9pm at the Main Road house. The gunman opened fire through a window hitting him at least nine times and injuring his wife, Lady Betty Terry, near the eye. The couple's daughter, Liz, was found suffering from shock. Terry's face had to be rebuilt as the shots shattered his face and two high-velocity bullets lodged a fraction of an inch from his brain.^[43][75]
• 9 October 1990: IRA members Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew were killed by the SAS near Loughgall, County Armagh.^[73][76]
• 24 October 1990: The IRA forced innocent civilian Patsy Gillespie to deliver explosives to a British Army checkpoint in a proxy bomb attack. The bomb detonated, killing Gillespie and five British Army soldiers.^[73]
• 7 February 1991: The IRA launched a mortar attack on members of the British Cabinet and the Prime Minister, John Major in a Cabinet session at Number 10 Downing Street at the height of a huge security clampdown amid the Gulf War.^[77]
• 18 February 1991: A bomb exploded at Victoria Station. One man was killed and 38 people injured. A bomb also exploded at Paddington Station, but there were no injuries.^[43]
• 3 March 1991:Cappagh killings. Three IRA men and one Catholic civilian were killed by the Ulster Volunteer Force as they left a pub in Cappagh, county Tyrone.
• 3 June 1991: Three IRA were killed in an ambush by the British Army at Coagh, county Tyrone. The Army stated the IRA men had been intercepted on their way to an attack ^[78]
• 15 November 1991: Two IRA members were killed in St Albans when their bomb detonated prematurely. A civilian was also injured.^[43][79]
• 17 January 1992: A bombing near Cookstown, County Tyrone, killed eight Protestant civilians, who were travelling home in a minibus after working at a military base.^[80]
• 5 February 1992: Joseph MacManus an IRA man from Sligo Town, County Sligo was killed near the border at Mulleek, near Belleek, County Fermanagh during the ambush of a UDR soldier.^[81]
• 16 February 1992: Four IRA members were killed by the British Army following an attack on an RUC station in Coalisland, County Tyrone using a DShK heavy machine gun mounted on the back of a stolen lorry.^[80][82]
• 28 February 1992: A bomb was detonated at London Bridge railway station injuring 29 people.^[43]
• 10 April 1992: A large bomb was detonated at 30 St Mary Axe in the City of London killing three people and injuring 91. Many buildings were heavily damaged including the Baltic Exchange.^[43][83]
• 12 October 1992: An explosive device exploded in a toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden killing one person and injuring four others.^[43]
• 20 March 1993: Two IRA bombs exploded in Warrington, killing two children and injuring over fifty people.^[84]
• 24 April 1993: The IRA detonated a huge truck bomb at Bishopsgate in the City of London, which killed one person and injured 44 more. The explosion caused damage estimated at £1bn, including the near destruction of St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate. Two bombs also exploded in hijacked minicabs in London, but nobody was injured.^[43][85]
• 23 October 1993: The Shankill Road bombing at a fish shop underneath an Ulster Defence Association office on the Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast detonates prematurely, killing ten, including one of the bombers, Thomas Begley, and two children.^[86]
• 19 February 1994: A number of incendiary devices were left in shops in London, including Burton stores in Regent Street and New Oxford Street. One device destroyed a newsagents shop, three caused minor damage, and several others were made safe.^[43]
• 8 March 1994: Four mortar shells were fired from a car towards Heathrow Airport. The shells landed inside on or near the northern runway, but failed to explode.^[43]
• 10 March 1994: The IRA launched a second attack on Heathrow, firing four mortar shells over the perimeter fence which landed near Terminal Four but failed to explode.^[43]
• 13 March 1994: The IRA defied tightened security to launch a third attack on Heathrow, firing five mortar shells over the perimeter fence which landed near Terminal Four but failed to explode.^[43] Later that night both Heathrow and Gatwick airports were closed for 2 hours after coded telephoned bomb threats were received.^[87]
• 20 March 1994: An shell from a Mark 10 mortar hit a British Army Lynx helicopter attempting to land at a base in Crossmaglen. The crew managed to land safely and escape the helicopter before it exploded.^[88][89]
• 13 August 1994: An explosive device left in a bicycle detonated in a shopping centre in Bognor Regis, West Sussex damaging 15 shops but causing no injuries. A similar device found on Brighton Pier was made safe using a controlled explosion.^[43]
• 22 August 1994: A high explosive device was defused outside a Laura Ashley shop in Regent Street, London.^[43]
• 31 August 1994: The IRA declared the first of two ceasefires in the 1990s.^[90]
  

  

  This postbox in Manchester survived the IRA bombing in 1996.
• 10 February 1996: The IRA ended its 1994 ceasefire, killing two civilians in a bombing adjacent to the South Quay DLR station in London Docklands. The initial estimate of the damage caused was £85m.^[91]
• 15 February 1996: A bomb placed in a phone booth on the Charing Cross Road in London is made safe using a controlled explosion.^[43]
• 18 February 1996: An improvised high explosive device detonated prematurely on a bus in Aldwych, in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device and injuring eight others.^[92]
• 15 June 1996: The IRA detonated a 3,000 lb bomb in Manchester, injuring over 200 people and causing damage valued at £411m. This was the largest IRA bomb ever detonated in Great Britain, and the largest bomb to explode in Great Britain since the Second World War.^[93][94]
• 7 October 1996: Two car bombs exploded at the British Army's Northern Ireland HQ, Thiepval Barracks, killing a soldier and injuring 31 people, including 11 civilian workers.^[95][96]
• 12 February 1997: The last British soldier to be killed in Northern Ireland, Lance Bombadier Stephen Restorick, was shot by an IRA sniper near the British Army base in Bessbrook, County Armagh.^[97]
• 19 July 1997: The IRA declared a second ceasefire, stating "We have ordered the unequivocal restoration of the ceasefire of August 1994. All IRA units have been instructed accordingly".^[98][99]
• 10 February 1998: The IRA was believed to be responsible for killing loyalist paramilitary Bobby Dougan in retaliation for the killings of Catholics. Sinn Féin was temporarily excluded from peace talks as a result.^[100]
• 27 January 1999: Former IRA member Eamon Collins was killed near Newry, shortly after testifying against Thomas "Slab" Murphy, leader of the South Armagh Brigade in a libel case with the Sunday Times.^[101]

[edit] 2000s

• 2 February 2005: The IRA issued a statement summarizing their "ambitious initiatives designed to develop or save the peace process", including three occasions in which they had complied with the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning in putting weapons beyond use. The statement went on to say, "At this time it appears that the two governments are intent on changing the basis of the peace process. They claim that 'the obstacle now to a lasting and durable settlement… is the continuing terrorist and criminal activity of the IRA'. We reject this. It also belies the fact that a possible agreement last December was squandered by both governments pandering to rejectionist unionism instead of upholding their own commitments and honouring their own obligations." The statement concluded with two points: "We are taking all our proposals off the table" and "It is our intention to closely monitor ongoing developments and to protect to the best of our ability the rights of republicans and our support base".^[102]
• 3 February 2005: Following statements from the British and Irish governments, claiming that the new IRA statement was no cause for alarm, the IRA issues a second two-sentence statement: "The two governments are trying to play down the importance of our statement because they are making a mess of the peace process. Do not underestimate the seriousness of the situation".^[103]
• 10 February 2005: The Independent Monitoring Commission reports that it firmly supports the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Garda assessments that the PIRA was responsible for the Northern Bank robbery and recommends financial and political sanctions against Sinn Féin.^[104]
• 6 April 2005: Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams calls on the IRA to initiate consultations "as quickly as possible" to move from being a paramilitary organisation to one committed to purely non-military methods.^[105]
• 24 May 2005: The Independent Monitoring Commission claimed the IRA were still recruiting and training new members, and it was still involved in paramilitary and criminal activity.^[106]
• 28 July 2005: The IRA release a statement that it is ending its armed campaign and will verifiably put its arms beyond use.^[107]
• 26 September 2005: International weapons inspectors issue a statement confirming the full decommissioning of the IRA's weaponry.^[108]
• 1 February 2006: International weapons inspectors believe that not all arms were decommissioned on the day the IRA decommissioned. Claims began to circulate that the IRA held onto a few handguns and various other weapons.^[109]

[edit] References