McGurk's Bar bombing

McGurk's Bar bombing
Part of the Troubles
A British soldier surveys the aftermath of the bombing
Location	Corner of North Queen Street and Great George's Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°36′26.7″N 05°55′49.7″W / 54.607417°N 5.930472°W / 54.607417; -5.930472
Date	4 December 1971 20:45 (GMT)
Target	Irish Catholics
Attack type	Time bomb
Deaths	15
Injured	17
Perpetrator	Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)

On 4 December 1971, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, detonated a bomb at McGurk's Bar in Belfast, Northern Ireland, frequented by Irish Catholics–nationalists.^[1] The explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians—including two children—and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles.^[2]

Despite evidence to the contrary, the British security forces asserted that a bomb had exploded prematurely while being handled by Irish Republican Army (IRA) members inside the pub, implying that the victims themselves were partly to blame. A report later found that the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the police force in Northern Ireland at the time, were biased in favour of this view and that this hindered their investigation. The victims' relatives allege that the security forces deliberately spread disinformation to discredit the IRA. In 1977, UVF member Robert Campbell was sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in the bombing and served fifteen years.^[3][4]

The bombing sparked a series of tit-for-tat bombings and shootings by loyalists and republicans, which contributed to making 1972 the bloodiest year of the conflict.