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{{short description|Bomb attack in Northern Ireland}}
{{Infobox terrorist attack
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
|title=La Mon Restaurant bombing
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
|location=near ], ]
{{Infobox civilian attack
|target=La Mon Restaurant
|title = La Mon restaurant bombing
|date=] ]
|partof = ]
|time-begin=21.00
|image =
|time-end=21.00
|map = {{Location map|Greater Belfast#United Kingdom County Down#Northern Ireland
|timezone=]
|relief = yes|border=infobox|float=center
|type=]
|width = 250
|fatalities=12
|lat = 54.5482
|injuries=30
|long = -5.8185
|perps=]
|marksize = 5
|caption =Location of the bombing (red dot) in relation to Belfast (pink)
}} }}
|location = ], ], Northern Ireland
The '''La Mon Restaurant Bombing''' was an attack by the ] (PIRA) in 1978. It has been described as "one of the worst atrocities" to occur in ].<ref>http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0216/lamon.html</ref><ref>http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2003-02-13.1126.0&s=speaker%3A11194</ref>
|coordinates = {{coord|54|32|53|N|05|49|04|W|display=it|region:GB_type:event}}
|date = 17 February 1978
|time = 21:00
|timezone = GMT
|type = Bombing
|weapons = ]
|fatalities = 12
|injuries = 30
|perp = ]<br>]
}}
{{Campaignbox Northern Ireland Troubles}}
The '''La Mon restaurant bombing''' was an ] attack by the ] (IRA) on 17 February 1978 and has been described as one of the worst atrocities of ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0216/lamon.html|work=RTÉ News|title=1978 La Mon bombing commemorated in Belfast|date=16 February 2003|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040118101440/http://www.rte.ie/news/2003/0216/lamon.html|archive-date=18 January 2004|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201041116/https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2003-02-13.1126.0&s=speaker%3A11194 |date=1 December 2017 }}, theyworkforyou.com; accessed 6 May 2017.</ref> It took place at the La Mon House hotel and restaurant, near ].

The IRA left a large incendiary bomb, containing a ]-like substance, outside one of the restaurant's windows. There were 450 diners, hotel staff and guests inside the building. The IRA said that they tried to send a warning from a public telephone, but were unable to do so until nine minutes before the bomb detonated. The blast created a fireball, killing 12 people and injuring 30 more, many of whom were severely burnt. Many of the injured were treated in the ] in nearby Dundonald.

A Belfast native, Robert Murphy, received twelve ]s in 1981 for the ] of those who were killed. Murphy was freed from prison on licence in 1995.

==Bombing==
===Warnings===
On 17 February 1978, an IRA unit planted an incendiary bomb attached to petrol-filled canisters on meat hooks outside the window of the Peacock Room in the restaurant of the La Mon House Hotel, located at ], ], about {{convert|6|mi|km}} southeast of central ].<ref name="bbc"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080109093424/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550869.stm |date=9 January 2008 }}</ref> After planting the bomb, the IRA members tried to send a warning from the nearest public telephone, but found that it had been vandalised.<ref name="mb">{{cite book|last1=Bishop|first1=Patrick|last2=Mallie|first2=Eamonn|title=The Provisional IRA|publisher=Corgi Books|date=1987|isbn=0-552-13337-X|page=336}}</ref><ref name="mitchell">Mitchell, Thomas G. ''Native vs. Settler: Ethnic conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa''. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p. 57<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> On their way to another telephone, they were further delayed when forced to stop at an ] (UDR) ].<ref name="mitchell"/>


By the time they were able to send the warning, only nine minutes remained before the bomb exploded at 21:00.<ref name="bbc"/> The ] (RUC) base at ] had received two further telephone warnings at 20:57 and 21:04.<ref name="lostlives">]. ''Lost Lives''. Mainstream, 2001. p.747</ref> By the time the latter call came in, it was too late. When an officer telephoned the restaurant to issue the warning he was told "For God's sake, get out here – a bomb has exploded!"<ref name="lostlives"/> It has been stated that the IRA were targeting RUC officers they believed were meeting in the restaurant that night, but had got the wrong date and that the meeting of RUC officers had taken place exactly a week before.<ref name=mcmahon>McMahon, Victoria. , '']'', 19 February 2012.</ref>
==The bomb==
At 9pm on ], ], a large ] exploded against the window of the Peacock Room in the restaurant of the La Mon Hotel complex near ]. The device was of an experimental type, and despite a nine minute warning, twelve people were killed in the explosion, most of them burned beyond recognition. A further thirty people were injured by the blast, many of them critically. Some are still receiving treatment 29 years later.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}


===Explosion and fireball===
The device was an experimental design in which a small ] was taped to the window of the restaurant, and attached to two large ] canisters, each filled with a home-made ]-like substance made of petrol and sugar, designed to stick to whatever it hit, a combination which caused much more severe burn injuries on the victims than those suffered in a conventional attack.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
That evening the two main adjoining function rooms, the Peacock Room and Gransha Room, were packed with people of all ages attending dinner dances. Including the hotel guests and staff, there was a total of 450 people inside the building.<ref name="bbc"/> The diners had just finished their first course when the bomb detonated, shattering the window outside of which it was attached and vaporising the canisters. The explosion created an instantaneous and devastating fireball of blazing petrol, {{convert|40|ft|m}} high and {{convert|60|ft|m}} wide, which engulfed the Peacock Room.<ref name="breen">"Massacre at La Mon – 30 Years On". ''Sunday Tribune''. Suzanne Breen. 27 January 2008</ref> Twelve people were killed, having been virtually burnt alive,<ref name="mb"/><ref name="taylor163">] (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc. p. 163<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> and some 30 others were injured, many critically. Some of the wounded lost limbs, and most received severe burns. One badly burnt survivor described the inferno inside the restaurant as "like a scene from hell" whilst another said the blast was "like the sun had exploded in front of my eyes".<ref name="breen"/> There was further pandemonium after the lights went out and choking black smoke filled the room. The survivors, with their hair and clothing on fire, rushed to escape the burning room. It took firemen almost two hours to put out the blaze.<ref name="breen"/> The dead were all Protestant civilians. Half were young married couples. Most of the dead and injured were members of the Irish Collie Club and the Northern Ireland Junior Motor Cycle Club, holding their yearly dinner dances in the Peacock Room and Gransha Room, respectively. The former took the full force of the explosion and subsequent fire; many of those who died had been seated nearest the window where the bomb had gone off. Some of the injured were still receiving treatment 20 years later.<ref name="bbc"/>


The device was a small ] attached to four large petrol canisters, each filled with a homemade ]-like substance of petrol and sugar. colloquially referred to as "box bombs".<ref name="DWAD">{{cite book|author=Gearóid Ó Faoleán|title=A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980|date=April 23, 2019|page=150|publisher=Merrion Press|isbn=978-1-7853-7245-2}}</ref> According to a published account by retired RUC Detective Superintendent Kevin Benedict Sheehy, this type of device had already been used by the IRA in more than one hundred attacks on commercial buildings before the La Mon attack.<ref name="ks">{{cite book|last=Sheehy|first=Kevin|title=More Questions Than Answers|publisher=Gill and MacMillan|date=2008|isbn=978-0-7171-4396-2|page=40}}</ref> This was designed to stick to whatever it hit, a combination which caused severe burn injuries. A large number of these devices were produced by the IRA in "bomb factories" in the ] (see ]).<ref name="DWAD"/>
==Provisional IRA responsibility==
The day after the explosion, the PIRA admitted that the blast was its responsibility, and apologised for the inadequate warning. Twenty suspected members{{Fact|date=April 2007}}, including ], were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the explosion, but none have ever been convicted of causing the blast.{{Fact|date=July 2007}}


The victims were found beneath a pile of hot ash and charred beyond recognition,<ref name="breen"/> making identity extremely difficult as their individual features had been completely burned away.<ref name="bbc"/><ref name="english291">English, Richard (2003).''Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA''. UK: Macmillan. p. 291<!-- ISSN/ISBN needed --></ref> Some of the bodies had shrunk so much in the intense heat, it was first believed that there were children among the victims. One doctor who saw the remains described them as being like "charred logs of wood".<ref name="breen"/>
The reason for the attack on this target has never been explained, but the building was known to be used primarily by ] clientèle, and indeed all the victims were Protestants, as well as members of the Irish Collie Club and the Northern Ireland Junior Motor Cycle Club, which were staging meetings in the room. One of the victims of the blast was an off-duty police officer, although he is not believed to have been a particular target.


==Aftermath==
The device is believed to have exploded prematurely. The bomb warning stated that the security forces had 30 minutes to react however the explosion followed less than 9 minutes later. {{Fact|date=May 2007}}
The day after the explosion, the IRA admitted responsibility and apologised for the inadequate warning.<ref name="bbc"/> The hotel had allegedly been targeted by the IRA as part of its firebomb campaign against commercial targets. Since the beginning of its ], it had carried out numerous such attacks with the stated goal of harming the economy and causing disruption, which it believed would put pressure on the British Government to withdraw from Northern Ireland.<ref>O'Day, Alan. ''Political Violence in Northern Ireland''. Greenwood Publishing, 1997. p.20</ref> The resulting carnage brought quick condemnation from other Irish nationalists, with one popular newspaper comparing the attack to the 1971 ].<ref name="ross46"/> ] president ] also strongly criticised the operation.<ref name="ross46"/> In consequence of the botched warning, the ] gave strict instructions to all units not to bomb buses, trains or hotels.<ref name="mitchell"/>


The then ], ], who was criticised by loyalists for his complacent attitude to the attack, claimed that the explosion was "an act of criminal irresponsibility" performed "by remnants of IRA gangs", and that the IRA was on the decline.<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/18/newsid_2550000/2550869.stm</ref> As all the victims had been Protestant, many Protestants saw the bombing as a ] attack against their community.{{cn|date=January 2021}} Some ] called for the return of the death penalty, with one unionist politician calling for republican areas to be bombed by the ].<ref name="ross46"/> The same day, about 2,000 people attended a lunchtime service organised by the ] at ]. ] shut for an hour, while many workers in Belfast and ] stopped work for a time. Workers at a number of factories said they were contributing a half-day's pay to a fund for the victims.<ref name="lostlives"/> ]s criticised the then ], ], for his "complacent attitude" to the attack. He stated that the explosion was "an act of criminal irresponsibility" performed "by remnants of IRA gangs". He also stated that the IRA was on the decline.<ref name="bbc"/>


A team of 100 RUC detectives was deployed in the investigation. As part of the investigation, 25 people were arrested in Belfast, including ].<ref name="lostlives"/> Adams was released from custody in July 1978.<ref>Brian Feeney, ''Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years'', O'Brien, 2002, p. 283</ref> Two prosecutions followed. One Belfast man was charged with twelve murders but was acquitted. He was convicted of IRA membership but successfully appealed. In September 1981, another Belfast man, Robert Murphy, was given twelve life sentences for the manslaughter of those who died. Murphy was freed on licence in 1995.<ref name="lostlives"/><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314223254/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/feb/15/northernireland.northernireland |date=14 March 2016 }}</ref> As part of their bid to catch the bombers, the RUC passed out leaflets which displayed a graphic photograph of a victim's charred remains.<ref name="ross46">Ross, F. Stuart (2011). ''Smashing H Block''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p.46</ref>
==Calls for inquiry==
In 2002, there was a resurgence of interest in the case when the ] considered opening up a new inquiry to discover the culprits. These plans have so far come to nothing.


In 2012, a news article quoting unnamed Republican sources stated that two members of the IRA bombing team, including the getaway driver, were ]s working for the ]. According to the article, one of the agents was ].<ref name=mcmahon/> That year, Northern Ireland's ] (HET) completed a report on the bombing. It revealed that important police documents, including interviews with IRA members, have been lost.<ref name=mcmahon/><ref name=bbc-het> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318153704/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17061713 |date=18 March 2012 }}. BBC News, 16 February 2012.</ref> A number of the victims' families criticised the report and called for a public inquiry. They stated the documents had been removed to protect certain IRA members.<ref name=mcmahon/><ref name=bbc-het/> Unionist politician ], who had been supporting the families, said: "There is a prevalent belief that someone involved was an agent and that is an issue around which we need clarity".<ref name=mcmahon/>
==References/Notes==
<references/>


==External links== ==References==
{{reflist}}
*


{{The Troubles|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Mon Restaurant Bombing}}
{{PIRA}}


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Latest revision as of 23:27, 22 December 2024

Bomb attack in Northern Ireland

La Mon restaurant bombing
Part of the Troubles
La Mon restaurant bombing is located in Greater BelfastLa Mon restaurant bombingLocation of the bombing (red dot) in relation to Belfast (pink)Show map of Greater BelfastLa Mon restaurant bombing is located in County DownLa Mon restaurant bombingLa Mon restaurant bombing (County Down)Show map of County DownLa Mon restaurant bombing is located in Northern IrelandLa Mon restaurant bombingLa Mon restaurant bombing (Northern Ireland)Show map of Northern Ireland
LocationComber, County Down, Northern Ireland
Coordinates54°32′53″N 05°49′04″W / 54.54806°N 5.81778°W / 54.54806; -5.81778
Date17 February 1978
21:00 (GMT)
Attack typeBombing
WeaponsIncendiary bomb
Deaths12
Injured30
PerpetratorProvisional Irish Republican Army
Belfast Brigade
The Troubles
in Ireland
1960s and 1970s

1980s


1990s


See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud

The La Mon restaurant bombing was an incendiary bomb attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 17 February 1978 and has been described as one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles. It took place at the La Mon House hotel and restaurant, near Belfast.

The IRA left a large incendiary bomb, containing a napalm-like substance, outside one of the restaurant's windows. There were 450 diners, hotel staff and guests inside the building. The IRA said that they tried to send a warning from a public telephone, but were unable to do so until nine minutes before the bomb detonated. The blast created a fireball, killing 12 people and injuring 30 more, many of whom were severely burnt. Many of the injured were treated in the Ulster Hospital in nearby Dundonald.

A Belfast native, Robert Murphy, received twelve life sentences in 1981 for the manslaughter of those who were killed. Murphy was freed from prison on licence in 1995.

Bombing

Warnings

On 17 February 1978, an IRA unit planted an incendiary bomb attached to petrol-filled canisters on meat hooks outside the window of the Peacock Room in the restaurant of the La Mon House Hotel, located at Comber, County Down, about 6 miles (9.7 km) southeast of central Belfast. After planting the bomb, the IRA members tried to send a warning from the nearest public telephone, but found that it had been vandalised. On their way to another telephone, they were further delayed when forced to stop at an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) checkpoint.

By the time they were able to send the warning, only nine minutes remained before the bomb exploded at 21:00. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base at Newtownards had received two further telephone warnings at 20:57 and 21:04. By the time the latter call came in, it was too late. When an officer telephoned the restaurant to issue the warning he was told "For God's sake, get out here – a bomb has exploded!" It has been stated that the IRA were targeting RUC officers they believed were meeting in the restaurant that night, but had got the wrong date and that the meeting of RUC officers had taken place exactly a week before.

Explosion and fireball

That evening the two main adjoining function rooms, the Peacock Room and Gransha Room, were packed with people of all ages attending dinner dances. Including the hotel guests and staff, there was a total of 450 people inside the building. The diners had just finished their first course when the bomb detonated, shattering the window outside of which it was attached and vaporising the canisters. The explosion created an instantaneous and devastating fireball of blazing petrol, 40 feet (12 m) high and 60 feet (18 m) wide, which engulfed the Peacock Room. Twelve people were killed, having been virtually burnt alive, and some 30 others were injured, many critically. Some of the wounded lost limbs, and most received severe burns. One badly burnt survivor described the inferno inside the restaurant as "like a scene from hell" whilst another said the blast was "like the sun had exploded in front of my eyes". There was further pandemonium after the lights went out and choking black smoke filled the room. The survivors, with their hair and clothing on fire, rushed to escape the burning room. It took firemen almost two hours to put out the blaze. The dead were all Protestant civilians. Half were young married couples. Most of the dead and injured were members of the Irish Collie Club and the Northern Ireland Junior Motor Cycle Club, holding their yearly dinner dances in the Peacock Room and Gransha Room, respectively. The former took the full force of the explosion and subsequent fire; many of those who died had been seated nearest the window where the bomb had gone off. Some of the injured were still receiving treatment 20 years later.

The device was a small blast bomb attached to four large petrol canisters, each filled with a homemade napalm-like substance of petrol and sugar. colloquially referred to as "box bombs". According to a published account by retired RUC Detective Superintendent Kevin Benedict Sheehy, this type of device had already been used by the IRA in more than one hundred attacks on commercial buildings before the La Mon attack. This was designed to stick to whatever it hit, a combination which caused severe burn injuries. A large number of these devices were produced by the IRA in "bomb factories" in the Republic of Ireland (see Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland).

The victims were found beneath a pile of hot ash and charred beyond recognition, making identity extremely difficult as their individual features had been completely burned away. Some of the bodies had shrunk so much in the intense heat, it was first believed that there were children among the victims. One doctor who saw the remains described them as being like "charred logs of wood".

Aftermath

The day after the explosion, the IRA admitted responsibility and apologised for the inadequate warning. The hotel had allegedly been targeted by the IRA as part of its firebomb campaign against commercial targets. Since the beginning of its campaign, it had carried out numerous such attacks with the stated goal of harming the economy and causing disruption, which it believed would put pressure on the British Government to withdraw from Northern Ireland. The resulting carnage brought quick condemnation from other Irish nationalists, with one popular newspaper comparing the attack to the 1971 McGurk's Bar bombing. Sinn Féin president Ruairí Ó Brádaigh also strongly criticised the operation. In consequence of the botched warning, the IRA Army Council gave strict instructions to all units not to bomb buses, trains or hotels.

As all the victims had been Protestant, many Protestants saw the bombing as a sectarian attack against their community. Some unionists called for the return of the death penalty, with one unionist politician calling for republican areas to be bombed by the Royal Air Force. The same day, about 2,000 people attended a lunchtime service organised by the Orange Order at Belfast City Hall. Belfast International Airport shut for an hour, while many workers in Belfast and Larne stopped work for a time. Workers at a number of factories said they were contributing a half-day's pay to a fund for the victims. Ulster loyalists criticised the then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason, for his "complacent attitude" to the attack. He stated that the explosion was "an act of criminal irresponsibility" performed "by remnants of IRA gangs". He also stated that the IRA was on the decline.

A team of 100 RUC detectives was deployed in the investigation. As part of the investigation, 25 people were arrested in Belfast, including Gerry Adams. Adams was released from custody in July 1978. Two prosecutions followed. One Belfast man was charged with twelve murders but was acquitted. He was convicted of IRA membership but successfully appealed. In September 1981, another Belfast man, Robert Murphy, was given twelve life sentences for the manslaughter of those who died. Murphy was freed on licence in 1995. As part of their bid to catch the bombers, the RUC passed out leaflets which displayed a graphic photograph of a victim's charred remains.

In 2012, a news article quoting unnamed Republican sources stated that two members of the IRA bombing team, including the getaway driver, were double agents working for the Special Branch. According to the article, one of the agents was Denis Donaldson. That year, Northern Ireland's Historical Enquiries Team (HET) completed a report on the bombing. It revealed that important police documents, including interviews with IRA members, have been lost. A number of the victims' families criticised the report and called for a public inquiry. They stated the documents had been removed to protect certain IRA members. Unionist politician Jim Allister, who had been supporting the families, said: "There is a prevalent belief that someone involved was an agent and that is an issue around which we need clarity".

References

  1. "1978 La Mon bombing commemorated in Belfast". RTÉ News. 16 February 2003. Archived from the original on 18 January 2004.
  2. La Mon House Hotel Bombing Archived 1 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine, theyworkforyou.com; accessed 6 May 2017.
  3. ^ BBC On This Day Archived 9 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Bishop, Patrick; Mallie, Eamonn (1987). The Provisional IRA. Corgi Books. p. 336. ISBN 0-552-13337-X.
  5. ^ Mitchell, Thomas G. Native vs. Settler: Ethnic conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p. 57
  6. ^ McKittrick, David. Lost Lives. Mainstream, 2001. p.747
  7. ^ McMahon, Victoria. "Donaldson was La Mon Bomber; Hotel Massacre Revelation", Sunday Mirror, 19 February 2012.
  8. ^ "Massacre at La Mon – 30 Years On". Sunday Tribune. Suzanne Breen. 27 January 2008
  9. Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, Plc. p. 163
  10. ^ Gearóid Ó Faoleán (23 April 2019). A Broad Church: The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland, 1969–1980. Merrion Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-1-7853-7245-2.
  11. Sheehy, Kevin (2008). More Questions Than Answers. Gill and MacMillan. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-7171-4396-2.
  12. English, Richard (2003).Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA. UK: Macmillan. p. 291
  13. O'Day, Alan. Political Violence in Northern Ireland. Greenwood Publishing, 1997. p.20
  14. ^ Ross, F. Stuart (2011). Smashing H Block. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. p.46
  15. Brian Feeney, Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years, O'Brien, 2002, p. 283
  16. Adams accused over hotel bomb, The Guardian Archived 14 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ "La Mon IRA bomb victims want public inquiry after HET report" Archived 18 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. BBC News, 16 February 2012.
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