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The South Quay bombing (also known as the Canary Wharf bombing or Docklands bombing) on February 9, 1996, was one of the most significant Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacks during the 1990s, as it caused severe damage to a significant part of the East London Docklands financial development and brought an end to their ceasefire of the previous two years.

At about 19:01 on 9 February, the IRA detonated a half-tonne bomb in a small lorry about 80 yards from South Quay Station on the Docklands Light Railway (in the Canary Wharf area of London), directly under the point where the tracks cross Marsh Wall. Due to a telephoned warning, nearby buildings and the road were evacuated. However, two men working in the newsagents shop directly opposite the explosion, Inam Bashir and John Jeffries, had not been evacuated in time and were killed. 39 people required hospital treatment due to blast injuries and falling glass.

Approximately £85 million worth of damage was done by the blast. Three nearby buildings (the Midland Bank building, South Quay Plaza I and II) were severely damaged (the latter two requiring complete rebuilding whilst the former was beyond economic repair and was demolished). The station itself was extensively damaged, but both it and the bridge under which the bomb was exploded were reopened within weeks (on 22 April), the latter requiring only cosmetic repairs despite its proximity to the blast.

This bomb represented the end to the IRA cease-fire during the Northern Ireland peace process at the time. A man named James McArdle was convicted of the bombing, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in June 2000.

Sir Paul Condon described the attack as "a failure of humanity".

See also

• List of terrorist incidents in London

External links

• BBC Report on the bombing
• Memories of the Docklands bomb by the BBC
• IRA Bomb Shatters the Peace by the Canadian encyclopedia
• Breakdown of Provisional IRA Cease-fire by the BBC

• 1996 in England
• Provisional IRA actions
• Terrorism in London
• Terrorist incidents in 1996