| Ballygawley bus bombing | |
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| Part of The Troubles | |
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| Location | near Ballygawley, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland |
| Date | 20 August 1988 12:30 a.m. |
| Target | British Army personnel |
| Attack type | Roadside bomb |
| Deaths | 8 soldiers |
| Injured | 28 soldiers |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
The Ballygawley bus bombing was an attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a bus carrying British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland. It occurred in the early hours of 20 August 1988 in the townland of Curr near Ballygawley, County Tyrone.[1]
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The unmarked 52-seater[2] bus had been transporting 36 soldiers of the The Light Infantry from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh.[3] After it passed Ballygawley, at about 12:30 a.m.,[4] IRA members remotely detonated a 200lb semtex roadside bomb. According to police, the bomb had been planted in a vehicle by the roadside.[2] The blast hurled the bus 30 meters down the road[4] and catapulted soldiers into neighboring hedges and fields.[2] It left a crater 6 ft deep and scattered wreckage at least 100 yards.[3]
Eight soldiers were killed and the remaining 28 were wounded. The soldiers killed were: Jayson Burfitt (19), Richard Greener (21), Mark Norsworthy (18), Stephen Wilkinson (18), Jason Winter (19), Blair Bishop (19), Alexander Lewis (18) and Peter Bullock (21).[1] This was the single biggest loss of life for the British Army since the Warrenpoint ambush in 1979.[5]
Shortly thereafter, the Provisional IRA issued a statement claiming responsibility.[3] It said that the attack had been carried-out by its Tyrone Brigade and added: "We will not lay down our arms until the peace of a British disengagement from Ireland...".[4] The security forces suspected that an informer may have told the IRA of the bus's route and the time it would pass a specific spot.[4] After the attack the British military decided to start ferrying their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter to stop any future attacks.[6]
Tom King, then British Government's Northern Ireland Secretary, said there was "some evidence" that the explosives used were part of a consignment from Libya (see Provisional IRA arms importation). He also stated that the possibility of reintroducing internment was "under review".[3] Libyan weaponry enabled the IRA to mount some of its biggest operations during its campaign. The Ballygawley bus bombing is generally believed to have been one of these attacks.[7] Three members of the IRA in Tyrone who were ambushed and killed by the Special Air Service on 30 August 1988, Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin were identified by British intelligence as the perpetrators of the bombing.[6]
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