Gelignite
4th March 1972
Two friends, Anne Owens and Janet Bereen, both aged in their early twenties, called in at the Abercorn Resturant in Castle Lane, for a cup of coffee and a chat, during a shopping trip into the centre of Belfast.
The Abercorn was located in a busy shopping area in the centre of the city and had a ground floor restaurant with a bar upstairs. It was popular with shoppers and on that Saturday afternoon, the place was bustling with customers, many of whom were women and children. One customer would later recall seeing two teenaged females walk out of the Abercorn, leaving a handbag under a table.
The Abercorn was located in a busy shopping area in the centre of the city and had a ground floor restaurant with a bar upstairs. It was popular with shoppers and on that Saturday afternoon, the place was bustling with customers, many of whom were women and children. One customer would later recall seeing two teenaged females walk out of the Abercorn, leaving a handbag under a table.
At 4.28 pm, an anonymous telephone caller to the emergency 999 number, warned of a bomb in Castle Lane, that was due to explode in five minutes. The caller did not give a precise location for the bomb.
Two minutes after the telephone warning, a bomb consisting of five pounds of gelignite packed inside a handbag, detonated at the Abercorn. The two Catholic friends, Anne and Janet, were seated next to the epicentre of the explosion and took the full force of a blast that was strong enough to cause the ceiling of the restaurant to collapse. The blast also shredded it's way through the restaurant's furniture and the bodies of the customers and staff; mutilating, decapitating, burning, bursting, blinding.
When police arrived outside the Abercorn, they encountered a scene of carnage. They could hear squealing, crying and moaning from the victims who had injuries you would find on a battlefield: missing limbs; burns; deep cuts; shards of glass and debris lodged in flesh and eyes, perforated ear drums. Walking wounded were dazed and stumbling through the smoke. Mutlilated bodies lying motionless on the ground, where the blast had thrown them. Handbags and toys scattered amongst the rubble.
A total of 130 people were injured and two young friends named Anne and Janet, were murdered.
A total of 130 people were injured and two young friends named Anne and Janet, were murdered.
Crimes Against Humanity
No terrorist organisation has ever claimed responsibility for the Abercorn explosion, but it is widely accepted that the first battalion of the Provisional IRA were to blame for the attack. The bombing provoked a backlash against PIRA, including in the neighbourhoods PIRA would have expected to receive support. The Abercorn was popular with Catholics who came from those areas.
The bombing of the Abercorn and PIRA's attempt to distance itself from the atrocity, when it realised that it risked losing support, would not be the last time it would try to lie it's way out of a problem, or falsely deny responsibility for murder. I would suggest that the Abercorn bombing is an example of PIRA's willingness to lie about it's actions and also evidence that their template for deceit was already in existence, early on in the troubles.
I would also suggest that the Abercorn bombing is an early example of PIRA's strategy of targeting civilians for death or injury. This was terror being used against the civilian populace and therefore a crime against humanity. The five minute warning given about the bomb, which in reality was only two minutes and did not even provide a specific location, was purposely insufficient to clear the area. The phoned warning was simply made for the benefit of a planned propaganda narrative, that would claim a warning had been provided and that subsequent casualties were the fault of emergency services, for not clearing the area on time. However, in this case, PIRA quickly concluded that in light of the widespread revulsion of the bombing, their narrative would not be accepted and an admission of responsibility would be unwise.
One might be tempted to give PIRA the benefit of the doubt and accept that they made a mistake, but with hindsight, it can be seen that it was one incident in a long term pattern of terrorist attacks against civilians. The 'mistake' narrative only works on those who are inclined to sympathise with PIRA, or people who view a single atrocity in isolation and ignore the pattern in behaviour.
In subsequent blogs, I will show how lies and deliberate targeting of civilians are recurring themes in PIRA terrorism. Whilst PIRA has claimed that deaths and injuries sustained by civilians in various attacks were accidental and regrettable, there is an abundance of evidence that PIRA not only had a reckless disregard for the safety of civilians, but viewed them as expendable pawns in their morally bankrupt game of terror.
You can read my next blog here: Ends & Means
The bombing of the Abercorn and PIRA's attempt to distance itself from the atrocity, when it realised that it risked losing support, would not be the last time it would try to lie it's way out of a problem, or falsely deny responsibility for murder. I would suggest that the Abercorn bombing is an example of PIRA's willingness to lie about it's actions and also evidence that their template for deceit was already in existence, early on in the troubles.
I would also suggest that the Abercorn bombing is an early example of PIRA's strategy of targeting civilians for death or injury. This was terror being used against the civilian populace and therefore a crime against humanity. The five minute warning given about the bomb, which in reality was only two minutes and did not even provide a specific location, was purposely insufficient to clear the area. The phoned warning was simply made for the benefit of a planned propaganda narrative, that would claim a warning had been provided and that subsequent casualties were the fault of emergency services, for not clearing the area on time. However, in this case, PIRA quickly concluded that in light of the widespread revulsion of the bombing, their narrative would not be accepted and an admission of responsibility would be unwise.
One might be tempted to give PIRA the benefit of the doubt and accept that they made a mistake, but with hindsight, it can be seen that it was one incident in a long term pattern of terrorist attacks against civilians. The 'mistake' narrative only works on those who are inclined to sympathise with PIRA, or people who view a single atrocity in isolation and ignore the pattern in behaviour.
In subsequent blogs, I will show how lies and deliberate targeting of civilians are recurring themes in PIRA terrorism. Whilst PIRA has claimed that deaths and injuries sustained by civilians in various attacks were accidental and regrettable, there is an abundance of evidence that PIRA not only had a reckless disregard for the safety of civilians, but viewed them as expendable pawns in their morally bankrupt game of terror.
The reality behind the myth of the Provisional IRA
