Twin Carbombs Strike Ireland Military Base

10/07/96 -16:30CDT
EmergencyNet News Service

Twin Car Bombs Explode at N. Ireland Base

(Lisburn, N. Ireland) Two car bombs were reportedly driven into the heart of the British Army's headquarters in Northern Ireland today and exploded, injuring at least thirty (31) people, including two children. Military sources reported twenty soldiers and eleven civilians injured by the twin detonations.

British Prime Minister Major said there were two bombs, the first of which went off in a parking lot within the perimeter of the camp. "The second one went off 10 minutes later near the base medical center. The presumption is that it was there either injure or kill doctors and nurses trying to help those injured in the first blast, or to catch those injured coming back from the parking lot to the medical center...that is the only explanation." "The nature of that activity speaks for itself. It was wicked beyond belief to have done that." Mr. Major said it was not yet known who was responsible for the attack but he emphatically stated: "If it was Provisional IRA, then clearly it is a very serious development indeed."

Six of those caught in the blast were reported severely injured. Three of the most seriously injured are being treated in the intensive care unit of Belfast's Royal Victoria hospital. Five others with lesser injuries were taken to other Belfast hospitals. They were all initially treated in Lisburn's Lagan Valley hospital where the physician in charge of emergency treatment, Dr. Brendan Sinnott, credited his team with excellent medical care and said that the more seriously injured might not have survived the journey to Belfast, unless his team had managed to efficiently treat and transfer them.

According to doctors, a woman in her mid-twenties reportedly suffered a serious penetrating head wound. A young man suffered serious chest and abdominal wounds, and an unidentified second man suffered chest injuries. Most of the injuries were related to being struck by shrapnel and flying debris. Some internal and head injuries may have been as the result of the blastwave. The remainder of the injured reportedly received less serious wounds. An small girl was also treated for shock and released.

Tonight, a major investigation continues into how the bombs, believed to have been made up of between 250kg and 500kg of "high order" explosives, were smuggled into the base, breaching what should have been one of N. Ireland's most secure military installations.

Update: 10/08/96 - 12:00CDT

This morning (10/08) a little known Irish Republican group claimed credit for the bombing, but they failed to give a recognized codeword. A spokesman for Ireland's semi-state RTE broadcasting network said a caller allegedly representing the "Continuity Army Council" (CAC) called shortly before noon and claimed responsibility for Monday's Lisburn barracks blast. The caller, however, failed to give a codeword which guerrilla groups, media organizations and broadcasting networks use to identify bona-fide bomb claims and bomb warnings. Some experts are discounting the CAC claim and think it may be an attempt at misdirection. Regardless of the validity of the call, concerns are being raised throughout England and Ireland about the possibilities of another round of violence between Republicans and Protestant antagonists.