| Glenane barracks bombing | |
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 The UDR barracks after the attack. |
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| Location | Glenane near Mountnorris, County Armagh |
| Date | 31 May 1991 2330 – (GMT) |
| Attack type | Truck-bomb |
| Deaths | 3 soldiers |
| Injured | 10 soldiers 4 civilians |
| Perpetrator(s) | Provisional IRA |
The Glenane barracks bombing was a large truck-bomb attack carried out by the IRA against a UDR base at Glenane, near Mountnorris, County Armagh, on 31 May 1991. Mountnorris is a small Village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, about three miles from Markethill. County Armagh ( Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish - from the height of Macha) is a county in Ulster in the north east of Ireland Events 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great (19th dynasty becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar. Greenwich Mean Time ( GMT) is a term originally referring to mean solar time at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann ( IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Óglaigh na hÉireann ( IRA; also referred to as the PIRA, the Provos, or by some of its supporters as the The Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR) was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army formed as an anti-terrorist Militia in 1970 to replace Mountnorris is a small Village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, about three miles from Markethill. County Armagh ( Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish - from the height of Macha) is a county in Ulster in the north east of Ireland Events 1279 BC - Rameses II (The Great (19th dynasty becomes pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
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Background
The bombing took place at a time when the Northern Ireland Office arranged Multi-party talks on the future of the province (known as the Brooke/Mayhew talks). The Northern Ireland Office ( NIO) is a United Kingdom government department responsible for Northern Ireland affairs
Sinn Fein members were not invited to attend because their links with the IRA, which prevented them from being recognized as a 'constitutional' party. Sinn Féin () is a political party in Ireland. The current party led by Gerry Adams was formed following a split in January 1970 The talks ended in a stalemate soon after. The attack would also show a change of tactics regarding the Proxy Bombs, which proved to be a political setback for the Republicans due to the revulsion they caused among the whole Irish nationalist community, including IRA supporters. The proxy bomb (also known as a human bomb was a tactic used by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA for a short time in the early 1990s whereby people were forced
Built in 1972 the barracks housed two companies of the 2nd County Armagh battalion of the Ulster Defence Regiment. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. County Armagh ( Contae Ard Mhacha in Irish - from the height of Macha) is a county in Ulster in the north east of Ireland The Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR) was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army formed as an anti-terrorist Militia in 1970 to replace Seen as an outpost it sat on the dividing line between a Protestant area and Catholic area. Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Catholic is an Adjective derived from the Greek adjective '' / 'katholikos' meaning "whole" or "complete". Seven UDR soldiers from the base had already been killed in The Troubles. It had outlived its operational usefulness and a decision had already been taken to close it down. [1] However, the lack of interest in rebuilding the compound after the bombing raised up some controversy among Unionist circles. In Military science, a compound is a type of Fortification made up of walls or fences surrounding several buildings in the center of a large piece of land [2]
The bombing
At 11:30 PM, a truck loaded with 2,000 lb (almost 1 ton. ) of high explosive was left on the slope of a hill at the rear of the barracks. Then, the truck was set to roll down to the base. The vehicle crashed through the perimeter fence and came to rest against the main building, the bomb then detonated. The entire compound was shattered by the explosion, which could be heard over 30 miles away. [2] The blast shook windows as far as Dundalk, well inside the Irish Republic. Dundalk (Dún Dealgan is the County town of County Louth in Ireland, situated close to the border with Northern Ireland. The Irish Republic ( Irish: Poblacht na hÉireann or Saorstát Éireann) was a unilaterally declared independent state of Ireland proclaimed [3] Three members of the Ulster Defence Regiment (Paul Blakely (30), Robert Crozier (46), Sidney Hamilton (44)) were killed, and 14 people were wounded. The Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR) was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army formed as an anti-terrorist Militia in 1970 to replace At first, a massive mortar attack was suspected.
The truck-bomb was triggered either by automatic fire, according to some witnesses[4] or by a radar beacon, which the IRA employed in order to prevent radio-jamming countermeasures. Radar is a system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range altitude direction or speed of both moving and fixed objects such as Aircraft, ships [5] The UDR base was never reopened.
References
- ^ Furniss Potter, page 351
- ^ a b Fair website
- ^ The Irish Emigrant, June 1991 issue
- ^ Geraghty, page 209. The author describes an IRA technique which primed the explosive devices by shooting at two copper plates inside the vehicle -separated only by a few millimeters- which then made contact and triggered the bomb inside. Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 An electrical connector is a conductive device for joining Electrical circuits together
- ^ Geraghty, page 210.
Links
Sources
- Geraghty, Tony: The Irish War. Tony Geraghty is a British - Irish writer and journalist He served in the Parachute Regiment, and was awarded the Joint Service Commendation Medal Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. ISBN 0801864569
- Furniss Potter, John: A Testimony to Courage - The Regimental History of the Ulster Defence Regiment 1969 - 1992. Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2001. ISBN 0850528194