Abercorn Restaurant bombing

Abercorn Restaurant bombing
Part of The Troubles
A victim's body is being removed from the scene by members of the security forces following the bomb explosion
Location	Abercorn Restaurant and Bar, 7-11 Castle Lane, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date	4 March 1972 16.30 (UTC)
Attack type	bombing
Deaths	2 civilians
Injured	130
Perpetrator	Provisional IRA (Belfast Brigade)

The Abercorn Restaurant bombing was a paramilitary attack that took place in a crowded city centre restaurant and bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland on 4 March 1972. The bomb explosion claimed the lives of two young women and over 130 people were injured. Many of the injuries were horrific which included blown-off limbs; three people lost eyes by shards of flying glass. The Provisional IRA were blamed, although no organisation ever claimed responsibility and nobody was ever charged in connection with the bombing. The IRA has since confirmed unofficially that it carried out the attack.

Contents 1 The bombing 1.1 Telephone warning 1.2 The explosion 2 Aftermath 3 References

The bombing

Telephone warning

The Abercorn on 7-11 Castle Lane in central Belfast, which housed a ground floor restaurant and upstairs bar, was packed with late afternoon shoppers - mostly women and children - when an anonymous caller issued a bomb warning to 999 at 4.28 p.m. on Saturday 4 March 1972. The caller did not give a precise location, but advised that a bomb would go off in Castle Lane in five minutes time.^[1] The street, located in the busy Cornmarket area, milled with crowds of people shopping and browsing as was typical on a Saturday in Belfast.

The explosion

Two minutes later at 4.30 p.m., a handbag containing a five-pound gelignite bomb exploded under a table inside the ground floor restaurant instantly killing two young Catholic friends, Anne Owens (22), who was employed at the Electricity Board, and Janet Bereen (21), a hospital radiographer. The young women had been out shopping together and had stopped at the Abercorn to have coffee; they were seated at the table closest to the bomb and took the full force of the blast.^[2][1] Ironically Anne Owens had survived a previous bombing at her workplace.^[3] More than 130 were injured in the explosion which overturned tables and chairs, and had brought the ceiling crashing down onto the ground floor restaurant. Many people were severely maimed with their limbs blown off; others suffered terrible head and facial injuries, burns, deep cuts and perforated eardrums whilst three individuals had eyes destroyed by shards of flying glass.^[1] Two sisters, Jennifer and Rosaleen McNern, one of whom was due to be married, were both horrifically mutilated; Jennifer lost both legs, whilst the bride-to-be, Rosaleen lost her legs, her right arm and one of her eyes.^[1]

Witnesses described a scene of panic and chaos as the bloodied survivors stumbled through the smoke, broken glass, blood, and rubble, crawling over one another to get away, whilst firemen attempted to bring out the injured, many who lay with their bodies mangled, unable to move.^[1] An RUC officer was one of the first people to arrive on the scene. He described the carnage which greeted him as something he would never forget. "All you could hear was the moaning and squealing and the people with limbs torn from their bodies".^[4] One reporter who arrived in the wake of the bombing was Northern Irish presenter Gloria Hunniford. Although the bodies of the dead and injured had been removed, she observed their possessions lying in the street amongst the Abercorn's debris. The gaping leather handbags with their contents spilling out and charred cuddly toys revealed that most of the victims had been young women and children.^[5]

A woman who had been inside the restaurant prior to the blast later told an inquest that she had seen two young teenaged girls walk out of the Abercorn leaving a handbag behind shortly before the explosion. This same woman had been waiting at a bus stop when the bomb went off. A detective-sergeant established that the explosion's epicentre was to the right of the table where the two girls had been sitting. The bomb had been placed inside a handbag.^[1] Ed Moloney in his book, Voices from the Grave also suggested that, based on the eyewitness accounts, two IRA teenaged girls were probably the bombers.^[2]

Aftermath

The detonation of a bomb in a city centre restaurant on a Saturday afternoon packed with shoppers, and the severity of the injuries - inflicted on mostly women and children - ensured that the attack caused much revulsion and left a permanent impression on the people of Belfast. Nobody was ever charged in connection with the bombing and no paramilitary organisation ever claimed responsibility for the attack but it is widely accepted that the Provisional IRA was responsible.^[6] Although the IRA initially denied responsibility, there was a public backlash against the organisation in nationalist areas such as West Belfast. The two dead women had both been Catholic, along with many of the injured including the two maimed McNern sisters, and the Abercorn Bar was a popular venue with many young nationalists. IRA Chief of Staff Sean MacStiofain unsuccessfully tried to claim the bombing was the work of loyalist paramilitaries.^[7] IRA sources have since confirmed, albeit unofficially, that the Provisional IRA had carried out the bombing.^[2] It is believed the Abercorn was targeted for attack because the upstairs bar was often frequented by off-duty British Army soldiers.^[3]

The extent of the injuries the blast had inflicted upon the survivors resulted in the Royal Victoria Hospital implementing for the first time, a disaster plan.^[1]

Unrelated to the bombing, the Abercorn featured in a sectarian attack in July 1972, when Michael McGuigan, a Catholic working in the bar, was abducted by loyalist paramiltaries, shot and left for dead. He had been dating a Protestant waitress who also worked in the Abercorn, and this had provoked the loyalist group to carry out the attack.^[8]

The Abercorn was demolished in 2007.^[4]

References

The Troubles Timeline – Directory Ireland Battle of the Bogside – August 1969 riots – Battle of St Matthew's – Falls Curfew – Scottish soldiers' killings – Operation Demetrius – Ballymurphy massacre – McGurk's bombing – Bloody Sunday – Abercorn bombing – Springhill massacre – Bloody Friday – Operation Motorman – Claudy bombing – Four Square Laundry – Ulster Workers' Council strike – Dublin & Monaghan bombings – Miami Showband killings – Bayardo Bar attack – Drummuckavall ambush – Reavey & O'Dowd killings – Kingsmill massacre – Flagstaff incident – Chlorane Bar attack – Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown – La Mon bombing – Warrenpoint ambush – Dunmurry explosion – Nellie M attack – Hunger strike – Glasdrumman ambush – St Bedan attack – Ballykelly bombing – Maze Prison escape – Newry barracks – Ballygawley barracks – Loughgall ambush – Enniskillen bombing – Milltown Cemetery attack – Corporals killings – Ballygawley bus bomb – 1989 Jonesborough ambush – Derryard checkpoint – Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown – Operation Conservation – RFA Fort Victoria – Proxy bomb attacks – 1991 Cappagh killings – Glenanne barracks – Coagh ambush – Clonoe ambush – Cloghoge checkpoint – Coalisland riots – South Armagh sniper campaign – 1993 Castlerock killings – 1993 Shankill bombing – Greysteel massacre – Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown – Loughinisland massacre – Drumcree conflict – 1997 Coalisland attack – July 1997 riots – Omagh bombing England Aldershot bombing – M62 coach bombing – Guildford bombings – Birmingham bombings – Marylebone siege – Hyde & Regent's Park bombings – Harrods bombing – Brighton bombing – Deal bombing – Downing Street attack – Warrington bombings – Bishopsgate bombing – Docklands bombing – Manchester bombing Elsewhere Operation Flavius, Gibraltar 1988 – Osnabrück barracks 1996