| 1972 Aldershot Bombing |
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Their target was the headquarters of the Parachute Regiment , which had been heavily involved in the Bloody Sunday (1972) shootings in Derry . A Ford Cortina with a large bomb hidden inside was left in the base car park, deliberately positioned outside the officer's mess. The time-release bomb exploded suddenly on the morning of the 22nd, and the blast destroyed the officer's mess and wrecked several nearby army office buildings in an explosion which could be heard over a mile away. The soldiers who were the intended targets of the bomb were not present, as the regiment itself was stationed abroad and most staff officers were in their offices, not in the mess. Nonetheless, seven people were killed, including an elderly gardener, five cleaning staff just leaving the premises and a Roman Catholic army Priest . Nineteen people were also wounded by the explosion. Authorities were shocked and concerned by this first major attack in Britain, and lax security at many bases was tightened up in an effort to prevent a repeat of the attack. The day after the explosion, the Official IRA claimed full responsibility, calling the attack revenge for Bloody Sunday (1972) and announcing that this would be just the start of a protracted bombing campaign on the mainland. However the fact that the bomb had killed only civilians, including a Catholic priest brought severe criticism on the OIRA and this was one of a numbr of factors that caused their leadership to halt their armed campaign later that year. The larger and more militant, Provisional IRA continued to attack targets in Britain (see Balcombe Street Gang ). In 1989, they bombed a Royal Marine barracks killing 11 soldiers (See 1989 Deal Barracks Bombing ). In November 1972, Noel Jenkinson, a known Republican activist , was convicted of the murders and received a lengthy jail term, dying in prison of heart failure four years later. The dead
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