1996 Manchester bombing

Manchester bombing
Part of the Troubles
Corporation Street after the bombing
TypeLorry bomb
Location
Corporation Street Manchester city centre

53°29′1″N 2°14′36″W / 53.48361°N 2.24333°W / 53.48361; -2.24333
Date15 June 1996; 28 years ago (1996-06-15)
11:17[1] (BST)
Executed byProvisional IRA
Casualties212[1] injured

The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on 15 June 1996. The IRA detonated a 1,500-kilogram (3,300 lb) lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the centre of Manchester, England. It was the biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since the Second World War.[2] It targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused significant damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (equivalent to £1.3 billion in 2023), a sum surpassed only by the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing, also by the IRA.[3]

At the time, England was hosting the Euro '96 football championships and a Russia vs. Germany match was scheduled to take place in Manchester the following day. The IRA sent telephoned warnings about 90 minutes before the bomb detonated. At least 75,000 people were evacuated from the region,[4] but the bomb squad were unable to defuse the bomb in time. More than 200 people were injured, but there were no fatalities[5] despite the strength of the bomb, which has been largely credited to the rapid response of emergency services in evacuating the city centre.[6][7]

Although Manchester had been targeted by the IRA before, it had not been subjected to an attack on this scale. In February 1996, the IRA had ended its seventeen-month ceasefire with a large truck bomb attack on London's Docklands financial district, though the 3,300-pound bomb of Manchester was three times the size of the Docklands bomb.[4] The Manchester bombing was condemned by the British and Irish Governments and US President Bill Clinton.[8] Five days after the blast, the IRA issued a statement from Dublin in which it claimed responsibility but regretted causing injury to civilians.[9]

Several buildings were damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished, while many more were closed for months for structural repairs. Most of the rebuilding work was completed by the end of 1999, at a cost of £1.2 billion, although redevelopment continued until 2005. The perpetrators have not been caught, and although Greater Manchester Police (GMP) had suggested it was unlikely that anyone will be charged in connection with the bombing,[10] a suspect was arrested on 8 September 2022.[11] The bombing has, however, been viewed by some as a "catalyst" for Manchester's mass regeneration, turning it into a modern "powerhouse" city with above-national average economic growth in the 20 years following the bombing.[5][12][13]

  1. ^ a b Countdown to terror, BBC, 21 June 2006, archived from the original on 22 February 2013, retrieved 9 September 2009
  2. ^ King (2006), p. 139
  3. ^ "Most Expensive Terrorist Attacks In The World", World Atlas, 21 February 2017, archived from the original on 23 May 2017, retrieved 23 May 2017
  4. ^ a b Williams, Jennifer (15 June 2016), "Manchester bomb: June 15, 1996. A day that changed our city forever", Manchester Evening News, archived from the original on 14 June 2016, retrieved 14 June 2016
  5. ^ a b Jahangir, Rumeana (15 June 2016), "Manchester IRA bomb: Terror blast remembered 20 years on", BBC, archived from the original on 13 July 2018, retrieved 21 June 2018
  6. ^ "A look back at the 1996 IRA bombing in Manchester". ABC News. 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  7. ^ Scheerhout, John (15 June 2016), "The 999 heroes who made sure nobody died in the IRA bomb", Manchester Evening News, archived from the original on 17 October 2017, retrieved 12 February 2018
  8. ^ Carroll, Joe (17 June 1996). "Irish, US presidents condemn IRA bombing in Manchester as news casts shadow over state visit". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 25 April 2023. Retrieved 13 November 2021.
  9. ^ "IRA Admits Manchester Bombing", Dublin, 20 June 1996, archived from the original on 16 September 2011, retrieved 8 September 2009 – via LA Times
  10. ^ Atkins, Rebecca (15 June 2006), "Manchester bombers escape trial", BBC, archived from the original on 7 July 2006, retrieved 7 May 2011
  11. ^ "Manchester IRA 1996 bomb: Man arrested at Birmingham Airport". BBC News. 9 September 2022. Archived from the original on 15 June 2024. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  12. ^ Smithers, Dominic (15 June 2016), "Twenty years since the bomb and Manchester's property market", Manchester Evening News, archived from the original on 17 August 2016, retrieved 21 July 2016
  13. ^ Bounds, Andrew (14 June 2016), "Manchester's remarkable rise from the IRA rubble", Financial Times (FT), archived from the original on 12 February 2018, retrieved 23 May 2017