NEWS LETTER,Wednesday, July 27, 2002

When 20 IRA bombs rocked Belfast and left nine dead and scores injured

Day that shocked the world

Friday July 21, 1972, was one of the most notorious dates in the violent history of the troubles – a day when the IRA launched a bloody, no-warning onslaught on Belfast civilians.

In the Space of an hour and a half republicans exploded more than 20 bombs in the city centre, killing nine people and wounding 130 in an afternoon of carnage that was immediately dubbed Bloody Friday

Another two people died later of their injuries.

Bomb after bomb blasted buildings and people in Belfast with rescue workers forced to collect the remains of victims in polythene bags.

The explosions began in the early afternoon forcing panic-stricken crowds on to the streets.
A crowd who took shelter in Oxford Street bus station were blasted by a bomb that killed six of them, including two Welsh Guards and two boys.
Two women and a teenager were killed by a car bomb at Cavehill Shopping Centre. At least 10 others were wounded – many lost limbs.
Margaret O`Hare, a 34-year-old mother of seven, was one of the women caught up in the explosion.
She had just left her car when a bomb left in a stolen taxi exploded, killing her instantly.
Brigid Murray, 65, and 14-year-old Stephen Parker, son of the Rev Joseph Parker, also died in the bombing.
Mutilated bodies, screaming victims and bombed buildings engulfed in flames greeted rescue workers and fire crews who managed to get to the scenes.
Seventy-seven women and girls, including a four-year-old and two 72-year-olds, and 53 men and boys were injured, many horrifically.
There was initial confusion about the death toll because most of the bodies were dismembered.
The IRA claimed responsibility but insisted they had telephoned warnings about each bomb at least an hour in advance of the explosions.
What they did not say was that they had telephoned a large number of hoax bomb warnings as well.
More than 2000lbs of explosives were used on the day which began its bloody catalogue of slaughter at 2.20pm with a 30lb bomb on a railway bridge at Windsor Park football ground.
The horror continued six minutes later when a 50lb bomb planted in a suitcase destroyed the Brookvale Hotel.
Until 3.37pm blast after blast exploded at houses, pubs, banks, shopping centres, bridges and bus stations.
Some detonated simultaneously, others were just a minute apart creating chaos that delayed the responses of police, ambulance and fire crews.
A horrified News Letter reporter said the carnage he found “almost defied description.” He wrote:”Pools of blood oozed over the pavements, dripping into drains. Human limbs lay tangled and distorted among smouldering wreckage. Polythene bags were used to pick up gruesome pieces. A mutilated head was just one of the sights to greet rescue workers…many of the policeman, fireman, soldiers and ambulancemen, all hardened to gruesome spectacles which this terrorist campaign has vomited onto the streets, showed visible signs of distress.”
Shovelling up a lacerated and sodden lump of lifeless humanity, one ambulanceman, his eyes dulled with shock, said: “I`ve seen most of them first-hand but this is the worst.”
The bombing was seen as a major setback to the IRA which was accused of pursuing its ends through indiscriminate murder.
Hardened police and fire officers wept as they performed the grim task of retrieving the remains of those blown to pieces by the force of the explosions.
The terror group later claimed that it had telephoned three warnings but the security forces say they were overwhelmed by numerous hoax calls on the day.
One RUC officer said: “At one stage we were handling 21 bomb scares, 20 of which turned out to be the real thing. Manpower was stretched to the limit. On the ground our men had difficulty in controlling crowds of stampeding people as bomb after bomb exploded.”
A statement from the IRA`s Belfast battalion claimed it had not set out to kill civilians.
“In accepting responsibility we point out that the following organisations were informed of bomb positions at least 30 minutes to one hour before each explosion – the Samaritans, the Public Protection Agency and Press,” it stated.

THOSE WHO DIED ON BLOODY FRIDAY

List of Bloody Friday victims Killed at Oxford Street bus station:

Army driver Stephen Cooper, 19, who had just arrived at the station after the bomb warning.

Sgt Philip Price, 27, member of the Welsh Guards.

William Crothers, 15, Protestant, Ulsterbus parcelboy who had left school three weeks earlier.

Ulsterbus driver John Gibson, 45, Protestant, married, five children

Ulsterbus clerk William Irvine, 18, Protestant

Ulsterbus clerk Thomas Killops, 39, Protestant, married.

Killed at Cavehill Road, Belfast:

            Brigid Murray, 65, Catholic

            Margaret O`Hare, 34, Catholic, married, seven children.

            Stephen Parker, 14, Protestant, son of prominent peace campaigner, the Rev Joseph Parker.

The IRA issued an apology on 16th July 2002 almost 30 years to the day for Bloody Friday....which should be among the other articles on the site.