London bombings can refer to various bomb attacks and other politically driven violent incidents in London, England:

1800s

• Fenian attacks
  • In 1867 a bomb planted by Fenians at New Prison in Clerkenwell exploded, killing several passers-by.^[1]
  • In 1883 a co-ordinated attack at several public buildings across London resulted in a number of explosions, including one within Scotland Yard itself, the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service.^[2]
  • On 25 January, 1885 Fenians detonated bombs at a number of locations in central London, including London Bridge, the House of Commons and the Tower of London (see List of terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom)

• January 1885 the first bomb on the London Underground system exploded on a Metropolitan Line train at Gower Street (now Euston Square) station .
• 1894, a bomb attack on the Greenwich Observatory by a French anarchist became famous due to being referenced in Joseph Conrad's book The Secret Agent.^[3]

Irish republican attacks during the troubles

See also: The troubles, Chronology of Provisional IRA actions, and Irish National Liberation Army

1970-1979

• An IRA bomb exploded in the Post Office Tower (today called the BT Tower) on October 31, 1971, resulting in the building's permanent closure to the public.^[4]
• 8 March 1973: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted its first operation in Britain, planting four car bombs in London. Two bombs exploded, killing one person and injuring 180 others. Ten members of the IRA team, including Gerry Kelly, Dolours Price and Marian Price, were arrested at Heathrow Airport trying to leave the country.^[5]
• 17 June 1974: A bomb exploded at the Houses of Parliament in London, causing extensive damage and injuring 11 people.^[6]
• 7 November 1974: An off-duty soldier and a civilian were killed when a bomb was thrown through the window of the Kings Arms pub in Woolwich, and 28 people were injured. Two British soldiers were killed by a bomb near near Stewartstown, County Tyrone.^[7]
• 21 December 1974: A bomb was defused in Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, London, (A second bomb was defused in the King's Arms public house in Warminster, Wiltshire).^[7]
• 28 August 1975: Seven people were injured when a bomb exploded in Oxford Street, London. A telephone warning was issued to The Sun newspaper five minutes before the explosion.^[8]
• 5 September 1975: Two people are killed and 63 injured when an IRA bomb explodes in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in London. ^[9]
• 6–12 December 1975: Four IRA members held two people hostage in the Balcombe Street Siege.^[10]
• 30 March 1979, Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave was killed as he left the House of Commons car park by a car bomb planted by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) in 1979.^[11][12]

1980-1989

• October 10, 1981: a bomb blast on Ebury Bridge Road next to Chelsea Barracks kills two people and injures 39.
• October 26, 1981: a bomb planted by the IRA in a Wimpy Bar on Oxford Street kills Kenneth Howorth, the Metropolitan Police explosives officer who is attempting to defuse it.
• July 20, 1982: Two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park, London by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) kill 11 members of the Household Cavalry and the Royal Green Jackets. Seven horses are also killed.
• December 17, 1983: Harrods was bombed by the IRA. Six people were killed (including three police officers) and 90 wounded during Christmas shopping at the West London department store. (See 17 December 1983 Harrods bombing)

1990-1999

• May 16, 1990: Wembley IRA detonate a bomb underneath a minibus killing Sgt Charles Chapman (The Queen's Regiment) and injuring another soldier. No one was ever convicted of Sgt Chapmans murder.
• July 20, 1990: London Stock Exchange, the IRA exploded a large bomb at the London Stock Exchange causing massive damage.
• February 18, 1991: A bomb explodes at Victoria Station. One man is killed and 38 people injured.
• February 28, 1992: A bomb explodes at London Bridge station injuring 29 people.
• April 10, 1992: A large bomb explodes in St Mary Axe in the City of London. The bomb was contained in a large white truck and consisted of a fertilizer device wrapped with a detonation cord made from Semtex. It killed three people: Paul Butt, 29, Baltic Exchange employee Thomas Casey, 49, and 15-year old Danielle Carter. The bomb also caused damage to surrounding buildings, many of which were also badly damaged by the Bishopsgate bombing the following year. The bomb caused £800 million worth of damage, £200 million more than the total damaged caused by the 10,000 explosions that had occurred during the Troubles in Northern Ireland up to that point.^[13]
• October 12, 1992: A device explodes in the gents' toilet of the Sussex Arms public house in Covent Garden killing one person and injuring four others.
• 16 November 1992: IRA plants a bomb at the Canary Wharf, but is spotted by security guards. The bomb is deactivated safely.
• April 24, 1993: Bishopsgate bombing. IRA detonate a huge truck bomb in the City of London at Bishopsgate, It killed journalist Ed Henty, injured over 40 people, and causing approximately £1 billion worth of damage,^[14] including the destruction of St Ethelburga's church, and serious damage to Liverpool St. Tube Station. Police had received a coded warning, but were still evacuating the area at the time of the explosion. The insurance payments required were so enormous, that Lloyd's of London almost went bankrupt under the strain, and there was a crisis in the London insurance market. The area had already suffered damage from the Baltic Exchange bombing the year before.
• February 9, 1996: IRA bombs the South Quay area of London, killing two people. (See 1996 Docklands bombing).
• February 15, 1996: A 5 lb bomb placed in a telephone box is disarmed by Police on the Charing Cross Road.
• February 18, 1996: An improvised high explosive device detonates prematurely on a bus travelling along Aldwych in central London, killing Edward O'Brien, the IRA operative transporting the device and injuring eight others.^[15]

Real IRA attacks after the Belfast Agreement

2001

• March 4, 2001: At around 00.30 GMT, the Real IRA detonates a bomb outside the BBC's main news centre in the Shepherd's Bush area of West London. (See 4 March 2001 BBC bombing).
• May 6, 2001: A bomb explodes at a Royal Mail sorting office in Colindale, London at 01.53 GMT, injuring one person. This bomb came just three weeks after an almost identical blast at the same office. ^[16]
• August 3, 2001: A car bomb containing 45kg of explosives detonates in Ealing Broadway, West London, injuring seven. (See 3 August 2001 Ealing bombing).

The Middle-East

• Israeli Ambassador to the Court of St James's, Shlomo Argov, was shot in an assassination attempt outside the Dorchester Hotel on 3 June 1982; his death in 2003 was as a result of the wounds.
• On Boxing Day 1983 a bomb exploded outside a Marks and Spencers supermarket, seriously injuring two people. Although the IRA was initially blamed, it later emerged that the Abu Nidal Organisation was responsible. ^[17]
• A large car bomb exploded outside the Israeli Embassy in London, injuring 20 people on the 26 July 1994.

Islamist terrorism

The July 2005 London bombings carried out by Islamist terrorists:

• 7 July 2005 London bombings
• 21 July 2005 attempted bombings
• 29 June 2007 attempted car bombings

Other attacks

• The Angry Brigade bombs 25 commercial and government targets in London during a campaign lasting from August 1970 to August 1971.
• David Copeland's nail bomb attacks against ethnic minorities and gay people in London which killed three people and injured over 160 in April 1999.

See also

• Attacks on the London Underground
• List of terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom
• List of terrorist incidents (Worldwide)

References and notes