La Mon restaurant bombing: Difference between revisions

The La Mon Restaurant Bombing was a terrorist attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in 1978.

At 9pm on the February 17, 1978 a large incendiary bomb exploded against the window of the Peacock Room in the restaurant of the La Mon Hotel complex near Belfast. The device was of an experimental type, and despite a nine minute warning, twelve people were killed in the explosion, most of them being burned beyond recognition. A further thirty people were injured by the blast, many of them critically. Some are still receiving treatment 28 years later.

The day after the explosion, the Provisional Irish Republican Army admitted that the blast was its responsibility, and apologised for the inadequate warning. Twenty suspected members, including Gerry Adams, were arrested on suspicion of having involvement in the explosion, but none have ever been convicted of causing the blast.

The device was an experimental design, in which a small blast bomb was taped to the window of the restaurant, and attached to two large petrol canisters, each filled with a home made napalm substance 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.

The reason for the attack on this target has never been explained, but the building was known to be used primarily by Protestant clientele, and indeed all the victims were Protestants, as well as being 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.

The then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Roy Mason was highly criticised for his complacent attitude to the attack, claiming that the explosion was "carried out by remnants of IRA gangs", and that the IRA was on the decline.

In 2002, there was a resurgence of interest in the case, when the British Parliament considered opening up a new inquiry to discover the culprits. These plans have so far come to nothing.

In 2003, Strangford MP Iris Robinson used parliamentary privilege to claim Gerry Adams was involved in the bombing and to call for an inquiry. Robinson claimed that "The police are certain that this attack was sanctioned and approved by Gerald Adams who was then in command of those who are known to have carried it out." Adams stated that there was no truth whatever in the accusations [1].

Twelve people were killed in the explosion. The dead included three married couples.

• Sarah Cooper
• Gordon Crothers – an off-duty reserve RUC officer.
• Joan Crothers
• Christine Lockhart
• Daniel Magill
• Elizabeth McCracken
• Ian McCracken
• Carol Mills
• Sandra Morris
• Dorothy Nelson
• Paul Nelson
• Thomas Neeson

• BBC Story on the incident