The bombing killed four civilians including two babies and helped trigger the cycle of tit-for-tat violence that made the 1970s the deadliest decade of the Troubles.
Key Facts
- Date
- 11 December 1971
- Deaths
- 4 civilians, including two babies
- Location
- Shankill Road, Belfast
- Suspected perpetrators
- Provisional IRA
- Preceding event
- McGurk's Bar bombing (15 killed), one week prior
- Notable recruits prompted
- Tommy Lyttle, Michael Stone, Sammy Duddy, Billy McQuiston
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The bombing is believed to have been carried out by the Provisional IRA in retaliation for the UVF bombing of McGurk's Bar one week earlier on 4 December 1971, which killed 15 Catholic civilians. The sectarian cycle of reprisal violence was already intensifying during this period of the Troubles.
On 11 December 1971, a bomb exploded without warning outside the Balmoral Furniture Company showroom on the Shankill Road, a predominantly unionist area crowded with Saturday shoppers. Four civilians were killed, two of them babies. British Army troops and the RUC joined hundreds of bystanders in rescuing survivors from the rubble.
The attack provoked widespread anger in the Ulster Protestant community and drove many men to join loyalist paramilitary organisations, including the UVF and UDA. Together with the McGurk's Bar bombing, it was a key catalyst for the escalating cycle of tit-for-tat killings and bombings that made the 1970s the bloodiest decade of the Troubles.