Bombings of King's Cross and Euston stations

King's Cross and Euston Station bombings
Part of the Troubles
Entrance to Euston Station
Location	London, England
Date	10 September 1973 12.24 p.m and 1:10 pm (GMT)
Target	British Rail stations
Attack type	Time Bomb and Thrown bomb
Weapons	explosives
Deaths	0
Injured	13 (5 at King's Cross and 8 at Euston)
Perpetrators	Provisional IRA

The King's Cross station and Euston station bombings were two bombing attacks on 10 September 1973 by the Provisional IRA (IRA) targeting two mainline railway stations in central London. The bomb blasts wounded a total of 13 civilians, some of whom were seriously injured, and also caused large but superficial damage. This was a second wave of bombing attacks launched by the IRA in England in 1973 after the Old Bailey car bombing earlier in the year which had killed one and injured around 200 civilians.

Background

Since the Provisional IRA began its offensive campaign in early 1971 against the British state forces during the paramilitary war in Ulster (from 1969-1970 it was mostly a defensive campaign), there had been discussion in its senior command, IRA Army Council, about extending a bombing campaign to mainland Great Britain. At a meeting of the Council in June 1972, the IRA's Chief of Staff Sean MacStiofain proposed staging bombing attacks in England to "take the heat off Belfast and Derry". However, the Army Council did not consent to a bombing campaign in England until early 1973 after talks with the British Government the previous year had broken down. The IRA Command believed that after the carnage in Belfast and Londonderry City in 1972 a bombing offensive in England itself might assist in relieving the pressure that its organization was under from the Crown Forces in areas of Ulster by a diversion of British security state strength. It also anticipated that it would at the same time increase strategic pressure upon the British Government to resolve the conflict by politically removing Ulster from the United Kingdom if the urban violence of Ulster was extended to England. The IRA Command also believed a successful bombing in London, as the capital city of the United Kingdom, would possess propaganda value, and provide a morale boost to its personnel and supporters.

The effects of the previous 1973 Old Bailey bombing seemed to give some validity to the theory of the propaganda value of extending violence into London for the IRA, as although it would have been considered almost routine in Ulster by the mid-1970's and have drawn only brief media notice, being carried out instead in London, a global capital city, had made the event world news headlines. However, although the bombing of the Old Bailey had been successfully executed and had gained media attention and elevated political pressure upon the British Government to address the issue of the conflict in Ulster with more urgency, it had been costly to the IRA as 10 out of the 11 man Active Service Unit conducting it been arrested by the British police whilst trying to leave England before the bombs they had manufactured and planted detonated. Drawing the tactical lesson that large teams were a security liability, for the second wave of bombings in England later in 1973, instead of sending a large team to carry it out with orders to withdraw back to Ireland immediately afterwards, smaller detached "cell" units of about 3-4 personnel were sent to carry out the operation, with instructions to remain in England afterwards and wage a campaign of bombings around England upon a variety of targets.

Bombing attacks of the 2nd 1973 wave in London

• The first bomb detonation occurred on 29 August 1973, targeting retail shopping districts, one being detonated near Harrod's department store in Knightsbridge.
• There were more bombs on 8 September 1973, including one at Victoria railway station which injured four civilians. (It is possible these attacks were carried out by the same IRA unit who subsequently attacked the King's Cross and Euston stations).

• On 10 September 1973 a bomb (with no warning being issued beforehand) exploded at King's Cross railway station in the booking hall at 12.24 p.m. when a youth of around 16/17 years of age walked up to the entrance of the station's old booking hall and threw a bag into it which contained a 3 lb (1.4 kg) device, which detonated, shattering glass throughout the hall and throwing a baggage trolley several feet into the air. The youth then fled into the station's crowd and escaped the scene.
  

• Approximately 45 minutes after the attack upon King's Cross, after a telephone called warning 5 minutes beforehand by a man with an Irish accent to the Press Association, a second bomb detonated in a snack bar at Euston railway station, injuring another eight civilians. One witness at Euston said: "I saw a flash and suddenly people were being thrown through the air - it was a terrible mess, they were bleeding and screaming" A total of 13 civilians were injured in the two attacks. The Metropolitan Police issued a photofit picture of a 5 ft 2 tall 16/17-year-old youth they were seeking in regard to the King's Cross attack.

• On 12 September 1973 two more bombs went off, one in Oxford Street and another Sloane Square, targeting retail shopping centres. Police subsequently announced that they looking for 5 people in connection with this 2nd wave of bomb attacks.

Subsequent events

Judith Ward was later wrongly convicted for having been involved in the late 1973 London bombings, along with the M62 Coach Bombing. She was later acquitted. No one else was brought to trial for this IRA bombing campaign.

See also

• 1973 Old Bailey bombing
• 1973 Westminster bombing
• Victoria station and Paddington station bombings
• Cannon Street train bombing
• West Ham station attack
• 1992 London Bridge bombing
• 1974 Houses of Parliament bombing
• Harrow School bombing

Sources

• CAIN project
• BBC ON THIS DAY Bomb blasts rock central London