Harrods bombing

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The second bomb attack on Harrods , a famous department store in London , was carried out on December 17, 1983. The attack was carried out by members of the Provisional IRA , although the IRA Army Council reported that they had not authorized the attack. Six people were killed, three police officers and three civilians.

Assassins carried out three bombings on Harrods on behalf of the IRA - on December 21, 1974, on December 17, 1983 and on January 28, 1993. The first attack resulted in no serious personal injury, and the third attack injured four people.

1983 bomb attack

The bomb contained 14 kg of explosives and was hidden in a blue Austin 1300 GT (built in 1972), a four-door sedan with a black roof made of polyvinyl chloride , which was registered with the car number KFP 252K. The vehicle was parked in front of the side entrance on Hans Crescent , a street adjacent to Harrods, and was detonated by a time fuse.

At 12:44 p.m., a man called the Samaritans switchboard answering violations of the law, using an IRA code word. The caller said there were bombs in and out of Harrods and provided the Austin's car number, but did not provide any information about the color of the vehicle. At around 1:21 p.m., four police officers in a vehicle, a dog handler and a police officer on foot approached the Austin when it exploded. The police vehicle absorbed most of the shock wave and possibly prevented major damage. Six people were killed, three pedestrians, including a US citizen and three Metropolitan Police officers . Philip Geddes, a journalist (24 years old), Kenneth Salvesen (28 years old), Jasmine Cochrane-Patrick (25 years old), police sergeant Noel Lane (28 years old) and police constable Jane Arbuthnot (22 years old) were killed. Police Inspector Stephen Dodd (34 years old) was seriously injured and died on December 24, 1983. Police constable Jon Gordon survived but lost both legs and part of a hand in the explosion.

At the time of the first explosion, there was a call from the IRA warning of an attack. The caller stated that there was a bomb on the left side of the C&A department store on the east side of Oxford Street . The police secured and cordoned off the area, but it was a hoax.

The Provisional IRA Army Council stated that their volunteers planned the assassination attempt, but they had no authorization to do so and stated: “The volunteers involved gave a 40 minutes specific warning, which should have been adequate. But due to the inefficiency or failure of the Metropolitan Police, who boasted of foreknowledge of IRA activity, this warning did not result in an evacuation. "(German:" The IRA volunteers gave a precise warning 40 minutes before the ignition, which was sufficient but due to the inefficiency and errors of the Metropolitan Police, which boasted of predictions of IRA activity, the warning did not result in an evacuation . ” Leon Brittan of the Secretary of State for the Home Department commented on the statement as follows: "The nature of a terrorist organization is that those in it are not under disciplined control". (German: "The nature of terrorist organizations means that they cannot be kept under disciplined control.")

A marker in memory of the three killed officers was attached to the Harrods department store on Hans Cresent . Philip Geddes, an Oxford graduate and journalist, was one of those killed. To commemorate him, Oxford University awards annual cash prizes to journalism students and aspiring young journalists. There is also an annual Philip Geddes Memorial Lecture on the future of journalism given by an eminent journalist.

1993 bomb attack

In January 1993, Harrods was again targeted by the IRA. In this attack, 0.450 kg of Semtex plastic explosives were detonated , the glass front of the trading house was destroyed and four people were injured. The suspects were Jan Taylor, a 51-year-old former corporal in the British Army and a member of the terrorist organization Red Action , and Patrick Hayes, a 41-year-old computer programmer with a degree from Central London Polytechnic . In March 1993, police arrested both of them at Hayes' home in Stoke Newington , north of London, where they resisted by force of arms without injuring anyone. In May 1994, Hayes and Taylor were sentenced to 30 years in prison for the attack on Harrods and another attack on the Ramsgate Train .

literature

  • Edward Mickolus (Ed.): Terrorism, 1992-1995: a chronology of events and a selectively annotated bibliography. Greenwood Press, 1997 ISBN 0313304688
  • Tony Geraghty (Ed.): The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence. JHU Press, 2000 ISBN 0801864569

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2d London store in 3 days bombed. In: The New York Times . December 22, 1974, accessed December 17, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Bomb unauthorized says IRA , The Guardian, December 19, 1983. Retrieved December 4
  3. ↑ a b Sutton Index of Deaths: CAIN Web Service (Conflict Archive on the Internet) information on cain.ulst.ac.uk . Accessed December 4th
  4. ↑ Northern Ireland: Thatcher letter to Reagan (outrage at Harrods IRA bomb) website of Margaret Thatcher Foundation . Accessed December 4th
  5. ↑ On this Day BBC report information on news.bbc.co.uk . Accessed December 4th
  6. ↑ Police : City Themes London at www.citythemes.co.uk (PDF; 134 kB). Accessed December 4th
  7. ↑ Prize money for students rises to £ 2,500 on www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Accessed December 4th  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk
  8. ↑ PHILIP GEDDES MEMORIAL PRIZES 2005 ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Oxford University Gazette on ox.ac.uk. Accessed December 4th @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ox.ac.uk
  9. ^ Will Bennett: Four hurt by IRA bomb outside Harrods - UK, News , The Independent. January 29, 1993. Retrieved February 19, 2010. 
  10. ^ A b Geraghty, The Irish War: the hidden conflict between the IRA and British Intelligence , 163.
  11. ^ Matt Seaton: Charge of the new Red Brigade. In: The Independent on Sunday, January 1995, on redaction.org ( Memento of the original of July 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 4, 2010  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.redaction.org
  12. ↑ Mickolus, Terrorism, 1992-1995: a chronology of events and a selectively annotated bibliography , p. 282.
  13. ↑ a b Men accused of Harrods bomb face more charges. The Independent dated February 23, 1993 . Retrieved December 4, 2010