1992 London Bridge bombing

{{Infobox civilian attack

| title = London Bridge station bombing

| partof = the Troubles

| image = London Bridge Station, main entrance 1996 geograph-3760087-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

| caption = London Bridge station interior, 1996

| location = London, England

| date = 28 February 1992

| target =

| time = 8:30 am GMT

| timezone = UTC

| type = Time bomb

| fatalities = 0

| injuries = 29

| perps = Provisional Irish Republican Army

}}

On Friday 28 February 1992, the Provisional IRA (IRA) exploded a bomb inside London Bridge station during the morning rush hour, causing extensive damage and wounding 29 people.{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch92.htm#Feb|title=Chronology of the Conflict 1992|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|publisher=CAIN }} It was one of many bombings carried out by one of the IRA's London active service units. It occurred just over a year after a bomb at Victoria station.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1996/mar/04/terrorist-incidents|title=Terrorist Incidents |date=4 March 1996|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) }}

Bombing

Around 8:20 am, someone rang Ulster Television's London office warning that a bomb was going to explode in a London station, without saying which one. About ten minutes later, the bomb detonated, which made debris fly almost {{convert|50|ft|m}} away from the blast area.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-29-mn-2384-story.html|title=IRA Bomb Injures 28 in Busy London Railway Station|agency=Associated Press|date=29 February 1992|newspaper=LA Times}} Twenty nine people were hurt in the explosion, most of them from flying glass and other bits of debris; four were seriously hurt but nobody was killed. The victims were treated at Guy's Hospital.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/29/world/bombing-in-london-leaves-28-injured.html|title=Bombing in London leaves 28 injured |date=29 February 1992|work=The New York Times}}

Aftermath

The head of Scotland Yard's anti terrorist squad, George Churchill-Coleman, said the {{cvt|2|lb|g}} bomb of high explosives was "clearly designed to kill." Investigations suggested that the bomb was placed in the men's restrooms. Churchill-Coleman added that the IRA's warning was "deliberately vague" and was given too late to act upon.{{cite web|url=http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio/lbc/index.php/segment/0001200261020|title=London Bridge IRA bomb · British Universities Film & Video Council|website=bufvc.ac.uk}}

Prime Minister John Major said the bombing would not change British policy in Northern Ireland. "It was pointless. It was cowardly. It was directed against innocent people and it will make absolutely no difference to our policy -- no difference at all."{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/02/29/world/bombing-in-london-leaves-28-injured.html|title=Bombing in London Leaves 28 Injured|first=William E.|last=Schmidt|newspaper=The New York Times|date=29 February 1992}}

The next day, another bomb went off in London, by the Crown Prosecution Service office, injuring two more people and bringing the total injured to 31 in the space of just over 24 hours.{{cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1996/mar/04/terrorist-incidents|date=4 March 1996|title=Terrorist Incidents |website=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)}}

This was one of dozens of bombs that detonated in London that year, the biggest of which was the Baltic Exchange bombing, killing three people and causing almost £1 billion worth of damage.{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=10&month=04&year=1992|title=Sutton Index of Deaths|first=Malcolm|last=Sutton|publisher=CAIN |date=10 April 1992}} The IRA maintained this pressure, bombing mainland Britain and especially the city of London as much as possible until the ceasefire of 1994.{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch92.htm|title=Chronology of the Conflict 1992|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|publisher=CAIN }}{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch93.htm|title=CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1993|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|publisher=CAIN }}{{cite web|url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch94.htm|title=Chronology of the Conflict 1994|first=Dr Martin|last=Melaugh|publisher=CAIN}}