Inglis Barracks bombing


The Inglis Barracks bombing was a bomb attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army on 1 August 1988 on a British Army barracks called Inglis Barracks in Mill Hill, London. The attack killed one soldier, injured nine more and destroyed large parts of the barracks. It was the first IRA attack in England since the 1984 Brighton Bombing.

Background

The Provisional IRA had carried out sustained bombing campaigns in England before, between 1973 and 1976 carrying out hundreds of bombings in the process killing over 60 people and injuring over 1,000. The IRA carried out sporadic attacks in England between 1977 and 1984. The bombing at Inglis barracks commenced a new sustained bombing campaign that would last until the 1994 IRA ceasefire.

Bombing

The living quarters of the barracks were demolished by the blast, which killed L/Cpl Michael Robbins from the Royal Engineers. A construction worker who was working inside the barracks, said the middle section was obliterated. The roof of the two-story red brick building was blown off. One soldier was rescued alive after he was trapped beneath the debris for thirty minutes. He was saved by a radiator that fell across him and shielded him from falling masonry. Fires raged for three hours as rescuers pulled the injured from heaps of rubble and smoldering timber.
The IRA issued a statement the next day in London and Dublin claiming responsibility for the bombing and said more attacks in England would follow.