A HELLISH LITANY: THREE DECADES OF SLAUGHTER
A hellish litany: three decades of slaughter
The Omagh bombing is the latest - and worst - in a long line of atrocities in Northern Ireland. Niall Blaney looks over a catalogue of horror.
NORTHERN IRELAND thought it had seen its last atrocity in which multiple lives were claimed.
The Omagh bombing now stands as the most bloody act since the troubles began 30 years ago.
The bombing has claimed the biggest ever death toll from a single act of carnage.
Prior to Saturday's explosion, the highest number of fatalities was claimed during the Dublin bombing on May 17 1974. Twenty-seven people were killed when three no-warning bombs exploded in Parnell Street, Talbot Street and South Leinster Street.
On the same day six more were killed in explosions in Monaghan town. The UVF later claimed responsibility. Other atrocities include:
• McGURK'S BAR, December 4 1971 - 15 people die in UVF bombing of north Belfast bar
• BLOODY SUNDAY, January 20 1972 - 14 people die in British army attack on Civil Rights marchers in Derry
• BLOODY FRIDAY, July 21 1972 -11 killed and 130 injured in 26 IRA bombs in Belfast
• LA MON, February 1978 - 12 killed and more than 30 injured by IRA fireball bomb at the La Mon house hotel, near Comber, Co Down
• WARRENPOINT, August 27 1979 - 18 soldiers killed by double IRA bombing in Warrenpoint. Hours earlier, Lord Mountbatten was killed on a boat off the Co Sligo coast
• BALLYKELLY BOMBING, December 6 1982 -17 die when INLA bomb destroys Droppin Well bar in the Co Derry town
• DARKLEY CHURCH KILLINGS, November 20 1983 - three Protestant church elders murdered during evening prayer service in Co Armagh
• NEWRY MORTAR ATTACK, February 28 1985, nine RUC officers killed during IRA mortar bomb attack on police base in the town
• LOUGHGALL, May 8 1987, eight IRA members shot by SAS unit during planned attack on RUC station in Co Armagh
• ENNISKILLEN BOMBING, November 11 1987 - 11 people killed and 63 injured in IRA bombing at Remembrance Day service
• MILLTOWN, March 16 1988 - three killed and 50 injured during a loyalist attack at the funerals of the Gibraltar 3 in Belfast's Milltown cemetery. Two British army corporals were murdered three days later at the funerals of the Milltown dead
• FUN RUN BOMBING, June 15 1988 - six soldiers blown up in their van after taking part in a charity fun run in Lisburn
• BALLYGAWLEY BOMBING, August 30 1988 - eight killed and 27 injured when IRA blow up a bus taking soldiers back to their base in Co Tyrone after leave in England
• TEEBANE BOMBING, January 17 1992 -eight Protestant workers killed by IRA bomb after finishing work at a British army base in Co Tyrone
• BOOKMAKERS' SHOOTING, February 5 1992 - five Catholics shot dead by UFF at Sean Graham's bookmakers on Belfast's Lower Ormeau Road
• SHANKILL ROAD, October 23 1993 - 10 people killed in IRA bomb at Frizzell's fish shop on Belfast's Shankill Road
• GREYSTEEL, October 30 1993 - seven people murdered in "trick or treat" gun attack on Rising Sun bar in Greysteel, Co Derry
• LOUGHINISLAND, June 18 1994 - six Catholics murdered as they watched the World Cup in a bar in Loughinisland, Co Dawn
• BALLYMONEY, July 12 1998 - three Quinn| children murdered in a petrol bomb attack on their Co Antrim home.
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