King's Cross station and Euston station bombings

King's Cross and Euston Station bombings
Part of the Troubles
Entrance to Euston Station
Location London, England
Date 10 September 1973
12.24 p.m and 1:10 pm (GMT)
Target British Rail stations
Attack type
 Time Bomb and Thrown bomb
Weapons explosives
Deaths 0
Non-fatal injuries
 13 (5 at King's Cross and 8 at Euston)
Perpetrators Provisional IRA

The King's Cross station and Euston station bombings were two bombing attacks on 10 September 1973 by the Provisional IRA (IRA) targeting two mainline railway stations in central London. The bomb blasts wounded a total of 13 civilians, some of whom were seriously injured, and also caused large but superficial damage.[1] This was a second wave of bombing attacks launched by the IRA in England in 1973 after the Old Bailey car bombing earlier in the year which had killed one and injured around 200 civilians.[2][3]

Background

Since the Provisional IRA began its offensive campaign in early 1971 against the British state forces during paramilitary war in Ulster (from 1969-1970 it was mostly a defensive campaign) there had been discussion in the IRA Army Council about extending a bombing campaign to mainland Great Britain.

At a meeting of the Provisional IRA Army Council in June 1972, IRA Chief of Staff, Sean MacStiofain, proposed bombing targets in England to "take the heat off Belfast and Derry". However, the Army Council did not consent to a bombing campaign in England until early 1973, after talks with the British government the previous year had broken down. The IRA Command believed that after the carnage in Belfast and Derry in 1972 a bombing offensive in England itself might assist in relieving pressure that its organization was under from the Crown Forces in areas of Ulster. It also anticipated that it would at the same time increase strategic pressure upon the British Government to resolve the conflict by politically remove Ulster from the United Kingdom if the urban violence of Ulster was extended to England. The IRA Command also believed a successful bombing in London, as the capital city of the United Kingdom, would possess propaganda value, and provide a morale boost to its personnel and supporters.

The 1973 Old Bailey bombing seemed to give some validity to propaganda value of such a campaign as the bombing, although it would have been considered almost routine in Ulster by the mid-1970's, and have drawn only brief public attention, made world headlines.[4] Even though that bombing attack had been successfully executed, it was costly to the IRA, as 10 out of the 11 man Active Service Unit conducting had been arrested by the British police whilst trying to leave England before the bombs they had planted detonated.[5] Drawing the tactical lesson that large teams were a security liability, for the following attacks in England later in 1973, instead of sending a large bombing team to conduct the operation and withdraw back to Ireland after the attack had been made, the IRA Command sent smaller "cell" units of about 3-4 personnel, with orders to remain in England and wage a campaign with a series of attacks around England upon a variety of targets.

Bombings

The first of the bomb attacks occurred on 29 August 1973, one near Harrod's in Knightsbridge, in London.[6] There were more bombs on 8 September 1973, including one at Victoria station which injured four civilians.[7] It is possible these attacks were carried out by the same IRA unit who subsequently attacked the King's Cross and Euston stations.

On 10 September 1973 another bomb (with no warning being issued beforehand) exploded at King's Cross railway station in the booking hall at 12.24 p.m. when a youth - of around 16/17 years of age - was seen walking up to the entrance of the station's old booking hall and throwing into it a bag, which contained a 3 lb (1.4 kg) device, which detonated shattering glass throughout the hall and throwing a baggage trolley several feet into the air. The bomber then fled into the station's crowd and escaped the scene.
Approximately 45 minutes later, after a telephone called warning 5 minutes beforehand by a man with an Irish accent to the Press Association, a second bomb detonated in a snack bar at Euston railway station, injuring another eight civilians. One witness at Euston said: "I saw a flash and suddenly people were being thrown through the air - it was a terrible mess, they were bleeding and screaming" A total of 13 civilians were injured in the two attacks. The Metropolitan Police issued a photofit picture of a 5 ft 2 tall 16/17-year-old youth they were seeking in regard to the King's Cross attack.

On 12 September 1973 two more bombs went off, in Oxford Street and Sloane Square. Police subsequently publicly announcing that they looking for 5 people in connection with the attacks.[8][9]

Subsequent events

Judith Ward was later wrongly convicted for having been involved in the late 1973 London bombings, along with the M62 Coach Bombing. She was later acquitted. No one else was brought to trial for this IRA bombing campaign.[10]

See also

Sources

References

  1. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  2. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  3. ↑ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. 1973-03-08. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  4. ↑ https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/7a/73/5e/7a735e58760131d9d7ef5e613170a186.jpg
  5. ↑ "BBC ON THIS DAY 14 November 1973: IRA gang convicted of London bombings". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  6. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  7. ↑ "Bomb Attacks". Illustrated London News. 27 October 1973. pp. 20–21. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
  8. ↑ Bruce Wallace and James MacManus. "Yard hunts the bomber with a baby face | From". The Guardian. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  9. ↑ "BBC ON THIS DAY 10 September 1973: Bomb blasts rock central London". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 2017-04-14.
  10. ↑ "BBC ON THIS DAY 4 November 1974: M62 bomber jailed for life". BBC News. 2008. Retrieved 2017-04-14.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.