1996 Docklands bombing

The 1996 Docklands bombing took place in London’s Docklands, a modern financial district of high-rise offices and transport links. The attack happened on 9 February outside Canary Wharf, near South Quay station on the Docklands Light Railway. The bomb was planted in a disguised flatbed truck and detonated at about 6 p.m. Two people were killed and more than a hundred injured, some permanently. The blast caused an estimated £150 million of damage across a wide area. The bombing ended the IRA’s seventeen-month ceasefire and came just over an hour after the group had told an Irish broadcaster it would end the truce. The British government had demanded full IRA disarmament before peace talks, which the IRA rejected as surrender. After the bombing, the government dropped its demand. The attack followed earlier IRA bombings in London, including one at the Baltic Exchange that caused £800 million of damage. Visitors to South Quay today find a rebuilt Docklands of glass towers and light-rail lines. The rebuilt area includes offices of major banks and media companies. The Canary Wharf Tower, once Europe’s tallest building, stands nearby. The Docklands Light Railway still crosses Marsh Wall close to where the bomb was parked. Plaques and memorials mark the site of the attack and the lives lost.