Inglis Barracks bombing

Inglis barracks bombing
Part of The Troubles
Officers Mess
Location Inglis barracks, Mill Hill, London, NW7 England
Coordinates 51°12′49″N 1°24′0″E / 51.21361°N 1.40000°E / 51.21361; 1.40000Coordinates: 51°12′49″N 1°24′0″E / 51.21361°N 1.40000°E / 51.21361; 1.40000
Date 1 August 1988
08:22 (GMT)
Target British soldiers
Attack type
 Time bomb
Deaths 1 British soldier
Non-fatal injuries
 9 British soldiers
Perpetrator Provisional IRA

The Inglis Barracks bombing was a bomb attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) on 1 August 1988 on a British Army barracks called Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, London. The attack killed one soldier from the Royal Engineers, injured nine more and destroyed large parts of the barracks.[1] It was the first IRA attack in England since the 1984 Brighton Bombing.[2]

Background

The Provisional IRA had carried out sustained bombing campaigns in England before, between 1973 and 1976[3][4] carrying out hundreds of bombings in the process killing over 60 people and injuring over 1,000. The IRA carried out sporadic attacks in England between 1977 and 1984. The bombing at Inglis barracks commenced a new sustained bombing campaign that would last until the 1994 IRA ceasefire.[5]

Bombing

The living quarters of the barracks were demolished by the blast.[6] Construction worker Frank McParland, who was working inside the barracks, said the middle section was obliterated. The roof of the two-story red brick building was blown off.[7] Corporal Ian Booth was rescued alive after he was trapped beneath the debris. He was saved by a radiator that fell across him and shielded him from falling masonry. Fires raged for three hours as rescuers pulled the injured from heaps of rubble and smoldering timber. Half of the barracks, the army's main postal depot in the capital, used to lie in then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Finchley constituency.[8]

The IRA issued a statement the next day in London and Dublin claiming responsibility for the bombing and said more attacks in England would follow.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1988". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  2. ↑ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  3. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  4. ↑ Melaugh, Dr Martin. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1975". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "'It's Over': Reporting the IRA ceasefire 20 years ago". BBC. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  6. ↑ Reuters (1988-08-01). "IRA Bomb Hits Barracks in London; 1 Dead". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  7. ↑ Times, Bernard Weinraub and Special To the New York. "I.R.A. Bombing in London Kills 1 British Soldier and Wounds 10". Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  8. ↑ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885–1972, compiled and edited by F.W.S. Craig (Parliamentary Reference Publications 1972)
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