DESPITE its large Irish population, Manchester and the surrounding area have been a popular target for the IRA in recent times, with five major bomb attacks in as many years.
The first of these came in the run up to Christmas 1992. On December 3rd two bombs exploded in the Parsonage Gardens and Cateaton Street areas of the city.
"Vague" warnings had been given, and although 67 people were treated in hospital, most of the injuries were minor ones to bystanders who had been evacuated from shops and offices. Small, high explosive devices were used in both cases.
Three months later, on February 26th, three devices exploded in the gasworks at Warrington, 15 miles from Manchester. The bombs destroyed a container holding two million cubic feet of gas, causing an explosion like "a mushroom from an atom bomb", according to witnesses.
No one was injured in the attack, but the explosions were preceded by a shooting incident in Warrington in which a policeman who approached a number of men in a van was shot in the back and leg.
The most tragic in the series of incidents occurred a month later, again in Warrington. On March 20th, 1993, IRA bombs placed in rubbish bins in the town centre exploded killing Jonathon Ball (3) and Tim Parry (12). Some 50 other people were injured.
The bombs had been placed only yards apart and exploded within 60 seconds of each other. The IRA later accused police of failing to act on warnings, but police said a deliberately misleading warning had been phoned 27 minutes before the first explosion, suggesting that a bomb would explode in Liverpool.
On June 15th, 1996, a huge explosion destroyed the Arndale Shopping Centre in Manchester's commercial district. More than 200 people were treated for injuries.
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