#ProvisionalIRA set off its first #CarBomb in 1972 on #ThisDayInHistory. The #DonegallStreetBombing went off when the street was packed, killing seven people & wounding 148, perhaps due to miscommunication about location,.. or perhaps this was made up later out of shame over it.
In an act of state terror in #Gibraltar, #OperationFlavius, #ThisDayInHistory in 1988, British SAS agents killed three UK citizens for being members of #ProvisionalIRA. The gov. claimed the trio were planning a car bomb, but they were found to be unarmed, with no bomb ever found.
26-year-old #ProvisionalIRA member #BobbySands began a #HungerStrike on #ThisDayInHistory in 1981, demanding recognition as a #PoliticalPrisoner. Whilst in prison he stood in a by-election, winning a seat in parliament. Britain did not budge & he died on the 66th day, 5 May 1981.
The #ProvisionalIRA carried out a mortar attach on the Royal Ulster Constabulary on #ThisDayInHistory in 1985. The #NewryMortarAttack killed nine #police officers and injured 40 more. #SettlerColonialism & #AntiColonialResistance create extremely complex moral & practical issues.
One of the worst atrocities of #TheTroubles came on #ThisDayInHistory in 1978, when the #ProvisionalIRA set incendiary bombs at #LaMonHouse near Belfast. Broken payphones and a #UDR checkpoint slowed the #Provos' warning calls. 12 were killed, 30 injured, many being badly burned.
The path to the #GoodFridayAgreement wound through events like the #DocklandsBombing, #ThisDayInHistory in 1996. UK demanded #ProvisionalIRA disarm before peace talks, so they caused £150 million in damage & killed two with a massive explosion; London promptly dropped the demand.
The #ProvisionalIRA, seeking Irish unity, triggered a bomb hidden in the luggage locker of a bus carrying British military personnel on #ThisDayInHistory in 1974. The #M62CoachBombing in #Yorkshire, England, killed nine soldiers & three family members, injuring another 38 aboard.
In a bloody revenge attack for the killing of six innocents on 4 January, on #ThisDayInHistory in 1976 members of the #ProvisionalIRA carried out the #KingsmillMassacre in #CountyArmagh, Northern Ireland. Gunmen stopped a minibus, took out and shot dead ten Protestant innocents.
In 1983, the #ProvisionalIRA set off a #CarBomb outside #Harrods in #London. The #Provos sent a warning about it half an hour before the bomb went off, but the area was not evacuated and the #HarrodsBombing killed three civilians and three police, and injured 90 other innocents.
"For over 125 years, the bridge received minimal maintenance. This is despite it being bombed three times: by the #IRA in 1939, the #ProvisionalIRA in 1996, and the #RealIRA in 2000"
Each incident improved the fundamental structure
The #RemembranceDayBombing occurred on #ThisDayInHistory in 1987. At a war memorial for British solders, #ProvisionalIRA triggered explosives that killed 12 and injured 63. The #Provos claimed it was a mistake and the intended target was soldiers, but it hurt #SinnFéin support.
#IRA #ProvisionalIRA #IrishRepublican #TheTroubles #FreedomFighters #PoliticalHistory #Ireland
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