A Provisional IRA double car bombing in Coleraine killed six Protestant civilians and triggered a loyalist sectarian backlash, including the murder of Senator Paddy Wilson.
Key Facts
- Date
- 12 June 1973
- Deaths
- 6 people
- Injuries
- 33 people
- Bombs detonated
- 2 car bombs
- Conviction
- Sean McGlinchey, sentenced 18 years in prison
- Described as
- "a forgotten massacre" of the Troubles
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Provisional IRA carried out a bombing campaign in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. On 12 June 1973, the organisation planted two car bombs in Coleraine, County Londonderry. The IRA later claimed it had mistakenly given the wrong location warning for the first device, which exploded without adequate evacuation.
At 3:00 pm on Railway Road, the first car bomb detonated, killing six people and injuring 33, with several victims losing limbs. Five minutes later, a second bomb exploded at Hanover Place, adding to panic and confusion but causing no additional casualties. All six fatalities were Protestant civilians.
The exclusively Protestant death toll provoked swift retaliation from loyalist paramilitaries, who launched a series of sectarian killings of Catholics. This culminated on 26 June 1973 in the double murder of Senator Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews. Sinn Féin councillor Sean McGlinchey was later convicted of planting the bomb and served 18 years in prison.