Glenanne barracks bombing
Glenanne barracks bombing | |
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Part of Provisional IRA |
The Glenanne barracks bombing was a large truck bomb attack carried out by the Provisional IRA against a British Army (Ulster Defence Regiment) base at Glenanne, near Mountnorris, County Armagh. The driverless lorry was rolled down a hill at the rear of the barracks and crashed through the perimeter fence. The bombing took place on 31 May 1991 and left three soldiers killed and 14 people wounded, four of them civilians.
Background
The bombing took place at a time when the Northern Ireland Office arranged multi-party talks (known as the Brooke/Mayhew talks) on the future of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin members were not invited to attend because of their links with the IRA, which prevented them from being recognised as a 'constitutional' party. The talks ended in failure soon after.[1]
Built in 1972, the barracks housed two companies of the
The bombing
At 11:30 PM 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) of a new type of
The blast left a crater 200 ft (61 m) deep and threw debris and shrapnel as far as 300 yards (270 m).[5] The explosion could be heard over 30 miles (48 km) away, as far as Dundalk.[3] This was the biggest bomb detonated by the IRA until then.[11] Most of the UDR base was destroyed by the blast and the fire that followed.[3][12] At first, a massive mortar attack was suspected.[11] Some livestock were killed and windows broken around the nearby Mossfield housing as a result of the explosion.[3] The cars parked outside the base were obliterated.[5] Ceilings were brought down and the local primary school was also damaged.[10] A UDR sergeant present, who was duty officer (and whose wife was also a member of the UDR attending a social event on base) recalled the immediate aftermath of the explosion:
I stood up, and I saw that the reinforced wall had come down. The bench of the guardroom stopped it. The guard commander was lying there with reinforced concrete up to his chest, and he said, 'Fuck me. I thought I was going to lose my life.' I could see that his whole chest was trapped under this slab of concrete. The place was a mass of rubble. There was a big raging fire that was creeping towards him. It was only a matter of feet from him. The oil tank at the back of the building had ruptured and was just a big ball of fire. I put my arms under his armpits and pulled him out. I went to see if there was anybody hurt up the stairs. I waded through the rubble and couldn't see the stairs. There was a mass of twisted wire. The stairs had gone.[13]
The barracks was usually manned by eight soldiers, but at the time there were 40 people in the complex, attending a social event.[7] Three UDR soldiers – Lance corporal Robert Crozier (46), Private Sydney Hamilton (44) and Private Paul Blakely (30) – were killed and ten were wounded.[3] Two of them were caught by the explosion when they came out to investigate after a sentry gave the alarm; a third died inside the base.[5] Four civilians were also wounded. The Provisional IRA claimed responsibility two days later.[3]
Author Kevin Toolis lists the destruction of Glenanne UDR barracks in County Armagh as part of the cycle of violence and
The base was never rebuilt. It had outlived its operational usefulness and a decision had already been taken to close it down.[2] The decision not to rebuild the compound raised some controversy among unionists.[12] A memorial stone was erected by the main entrance road with the names of the UDR soldiers killed over the years while serving in Glenanne.[10]
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-8018-6456-9
- Potter, John: A Testimony to Courage – The Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 – 1992. Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001. ISBN 0-85052-819-4
References
- ^ Bew, Paul and Gillespie, Gordon (1999). Northern Ireland: a chronology of the troubles 1968–1999. Gill & Macmillan, p. 267
- ^ a b Potter, p. 351
- ^ a b c d e f g h Whitney, Craig. "I.R.A. Says It Planted Truck Bomb That Killed 3". The New York Times, 2 June 1991.
- ^ O'Hagan, Sean (10 March 2024). "The enigma of Rose Dugdale: what drove a former debutante to become Britain and Ireland's most wanted terrorist?". The Observer. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7165-2895-1.
- ^ Oppenheimer (2009), p. 122
- ^ ISBN 0413772233
- ISBN 9780850528190.
- ^ "IRA truck bomb kills three", Reuters, 2 June 1991
- ^ a b c Potter, p. 354
- ^ a b "Another three dead" Archived 12 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, The Irish Emigrant, Issue No. 277, June 3 1991.
- ^ a b "Glenanne Ulster Defence Regiment Base". Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
- ISBN 9780850528190.
- ISBN 0-330-34243-6
- ^ 'The SAS broke the rules of war' by Chris Summers. BBC news, 28 January 2009