Musgrave Park Hospital bombing

1991 IRA attack in Belfast, Northern Ireland

54°34′03″N 5°58′37″W / 54.56750°N 5.97694°W / 54.56750; -5.97694Date2 November 1991
4:35PM (GMT)TargetMilitary wing of the Hospital

Attack type

BombingDeaths2 British soldiersInjured9 British soldiers
2 CiviliansPerpetratorProvisional IRA

The Troubles
in Ireland

1960s and 1970s

1980s

1990s

On 2 November 1991, a bomb planted by the Provisional IRA exploded in the Military Wing at Musgrave Park Hospital, Belfast. Two British soldiers were killed and nine others were wounded. Two children, a five-year-old girl and a baby of four months, were also injured by the blast.

Background

Paramilitary attacks in hospital grounds were not unknown during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. In May 1976, a British soldier, member of a liaison team from the Royal Anglian Regiment, was seriously injured when an Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) gunman opened fire in a corridor in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. One of the five shots fired also hit a male nurse.^[1] On 28 October 1976, Ulster Freedom Fighters (UUF) militants shot and killed former Sinn Féin vice-president Máire Drumm at Mater Hospital in Belfast, while she was recovering from an eye operation. A former British soldier working as security guard colluded with the killers.^[2] In March 1977 a booby-trap bomb exploded in the vicinity of Royal Victoria Hospital's sports complex as three Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers passed although none were injured; a week earlier the IRA had claimed that the British Army was using part of the hospital grounds for surveillance work.^[3] The 2 November 1991 attack was believed to be the first time a hospital had been the intended target of an attack, rather than an incident involving specific individuals.^[4]

Bombing

On 2 November 1991, a Provisional IRA active service unit infiltrated a service tunnel connecting the Withers block, containing orthopaedic and children's wards and the Military Wing, and planted a device containing 20 lb (9.1 kg) of Semtex against steel security doors. The bomb exploded in the afternoon, being located directly beneath an operating theatre. The blast caused extensive damage to the building with walls buckled outwards and part of a staircase collapsing. Several small fires were also ignited. Initially it was thought there had been a gas leak. Two soldiers were killed (Phil Cross, Royal Army Medical Corps, Craig Pantry, Royal Corps of Transport) and 11 other people were injured, among them 9 members of the Army Medical Service, a five-year-old girl and a baby of four months.^[5] Many of the dead and injured were watching a rugby match on television in the Military Wing's social club. The children's ward and a creche were within a hundred yards of the military complex and children had to be evacuated after broken glass made their ward uninhabitable.^[6]^[7]

Aftermath

As well as the deaths and injuries, the blast from the explosion caused severe damage to both the Military Wing and the newly refurbished children's ward in the Withers block. At least 97 operations due to have been performed that week were cancelled, 80 out of the 200 patient beds in the hospital were rendered unusable, and the damage totalling at least £250,000 (equivalent to £570,986 in 2021).^[8]

The bombing was widely condemned and intensified growing calls for the re-introduction of internment without trial from Unionist politicians and some senior figures of the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland.^[8]^[9] Northern Ireland's Deputy Chief Ambulance officer Tom McKee called the attack "deplorable". The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Gerry Collins said of the bombing: "An attack against a hospital must be regarded as a particularly heinous violation of the most basic standards of human decency."^[10]

References

^ "A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict ISSUE 42". docplayer.net.
^ McKittrick, David (1999). Lost lives: the stories of the men, women and children who died through the Northern Ireland troubles. Mainstream. p. 684. ISBN 1-84018-227-X.
^ "Booby-trap bomb in RVH grounds", Belfast Telegraph. 21 March 1977.
^ Sunday Tribune. 3 November 1991.
^ House of Commons Hansard Debates for 4 Nov 1991 Archived 6 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Duke of Connaught Unit". Qaranc. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ Sunday Tribune. 3 November 1991.
^ ^a ^b "Musgrave Park Hospital (Bombing) - Monday 4 November 1991 - Hansard - UK Parliament". hansard.parliament.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
^ Sunday Life. 3 November 1991. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Sunday Tribune. 3 November 1991. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Provisional Irish Republican Army

General

Organisation

Actions

1970–1979	Battle of St Matthew's Falls Curfew 1970 Crossmaglen bombing Scottish soldiers' killings Red Lion bombing Balmoral showroom bombing Abercorn bombing Donegall Street bombing Battle at Springmartin Battle of Lenadoon Bloody Friday Claudy bombing Newry customs bombing Old Bailey bombing Honey Trap killings King's Cross & Euston bombings Coleraine bombings 1973 Westminster bombing M62 bombing Clogher attack Houses of Parliament bombing Tower of London bombing Guildford pub bombings Harrow School bombing Brooks's Club bombing Woolwich pub bombing British Airways bombing attempt Birmingham pub bombings London pillar box bombings Talbot Arms bombing Bristol bombing Telephone exchange bombings 1974 Oxford Street bombing Carlton Tower & Portman Hotel shootings Mountainview attack Bayardo Bar attack Forkhill attack Caterham Arms bombing Tullyvallen massacre London Hilton bombing Piccadilly bombing Trattoria Fiore bombing Scott's Oyster Bar bombing Walton's Restaurant bombing Drummuckavall ambush Balcombe Street siege Kingsmill massacre Cannon Street train bombing West Ham station attack Olympia bombing Store bar shooting Stag Inn attack Garryhinch ambush Jonesborough Gazelle downing La Mon restaurant bombing Crossmaglen ambush Warrenpoint ambush Brussels bombing Dungannon attack
1980–1989	Dunmurry train bombing Lough Foyle attacks Glasdrumman ambush 1981 Bessbrook attack Chelsea Barracks bombing Hyde Park & Regent's Park bombings Harrods bombing Royal Artillery Barracks bombing Brighton hotel bombing Ballygawley land mine attack Newry mortar attack Ballygawley attack Enniskillen mortar attack RUC Birches barracks attack Rheindahlen bombing Loughgall ambush Operation Flavius Corporals killings Lisburn bombing Aughanduff Lynx shootdown 1988 Netherlands attacks Glamorgan barracks bombing Inglis Barracks bombing Ballygawley bus bombing Jonesborough ambush Clive Barracks bombing Deal barracks bombing Mayobridge attack Derryard attack
1990–1991	Derrygorry Gazelle downing South Armagh sniper Downpatrick roadside bomb Operation Conservation Carlton Club bombing 1990 Eltham bombing 1990 Wembley bombing Honourable Artillery Company bombing Lichfield gun attack RFA Fort Victoria bombing Proxy bombings Downing Street mortar attack Paddington & Victoria station bombings Mullacreevie ambush Glenanne barracks bombing Coagh ambush Musgrave Park Hospital bombing Crumlin Road Prison bombing
1992–1997	Teebane bombing Clonoe ambush London Bridge bombing Staples Cnr bombing Baltic Exchange bombing Sussex Arms bombing Cloghoge attack Coalisland riots Forensic Science Laboratory bombing Stoke Newington Road bomb 1992 Manchester bombing Night of the Long Knives 1993 Harrods bombing Warrington bombings Cullaville occupation Camden bombing Bishopsgate bombing Finchley Road bombings Battle of Newry Road Shankill Road bombing 1993 Fivemiletown ambush Heathrow attacks Crossmaglen Lynx downing Drumcree conflict Docklands bombing Aldwych bus bombing 1996 Manchester bombing Hammersmith Bridge bombing Osnabrück mortar attack Thiepval barracks bombing Coalisland attack 1997 Northern Ireland riots