July 21, 1972: 50th anniversary of Bloody Friday in Belfast

July 21, 1972: Bloody Friday. In a series of devastating attacks, the Provisional IRA planted 22 bombs in Belfast, killing nine people and injuring more than 130, most of them innocent civilians. Among the injured were 77 women and girls and 53 men and boys.

The IRA said they had adequate warning of all the bombs and accused the British Army of deliberately ignoring some of the warnings for propaganda purposes. However, others said they were overwhelmed by the number of bombs and bomb warnings and were unable to act in time to clear all areas of civilians.

The first alarm sounded at Smithfield Bus Station at around 2.10pm on that sunny afternoon, and the last alarm sounded at Grosvenor Road at 3.30pm.

At 2:48 pm, an explosion occurred at Oxford Street Bus Station, killing six people. Two British Army soldiers, Stephen Cooper (19) and Philip Price (27), were near the car bomb when it exploded and died instantly. Three Protestant civilians working for the Ulster Bus Company were killed: William Crothers (15), Thomas Killops (39) and Jackie Gibson (45). Another Protestant Ulster Bus Company employee, William Irvine (18), a member of the Ulster Defence Association, also died in the explosion. Nearly 40 people were injured.

At 3.15pm, a car bomb with an estimated 50lbs of explosives exploded without warning outside a row of single-storey shops near the top of Cavehill Road in north Belfast. The shops are located in a religiously mixed residential area. Two women and a man were killed in the blast. Margaret O’Hare (37), a Catholic mother of seven, was killed in the car. Her 11-year-old daughter, who was in the car with her, was seriously injured. Catholic Brigid Murray (65) and Protestant teenager Stephen Parker (14) were also killed.

These attacks were a disaster for the IRA as disgust spread across Britain and Ireland at these attacks on civilian targets. This laid the groundwork for Operation Locomotive, which enabled British troops to capture Free Derry and eliminate the last of the No-No Zone by the end of the month.

Many years later, a Royal Ulster College soldier at the time recalled:

The first thing that caught my attention was a human torso lying in the middle of the street. It was a human torso because the clothes had been blown off and you could see part of the human anatomy. One of the victims was a soldier I knew. His arms and legs had been blown off and part of his body had been blown through the railings. One of the most horrific memories for me was seeing a head stuck to a wall. A few days later we found the spine and ribs on the roof of a nearby building. We found it because seagulls were swooping down on it. For twenty-five years I have tried to put this incident behind me.

Brendan Hughes, commander of the IRA Belfast Brigade, described the attack as a disaster.

I was the commander of Bloody Friday. I remember being in Leeson Street when the bombs started going off and I thought, “There are too many here.” I kind of knew there would be casualties, either the British couldn’t handle so many bombs or they would allow some of them to go off because then they could cause casualties. I feel a bit guilty about that because, as I said, they didn’t intend to kill anyone that day. I’m very sorry that Bloody Friday happened… very sorry… If I could do it over again, I wouldn’t do it that way.

Deaths:

Stephen Cooper (19), member of the British Army
William Crothers (15), civilian
John Gibson (45), civilian
William Owen (18), civilian
Thomas Kilops (39), civilian
Brigid Murray (65), civilian
Margaret O’Hare (34), civilian
Stephen Parker (14), civilian
Philip Price (27), British Army