News Letter bomb anniversary a reminder of ‘IRA barbarity’

The TUV leader was commenting after the News Letter commemorated the 50th anniversary of the atrocity – which claimed the lives of seven people – with a special supplement on Monday.

Two police officers and three council bin collectors were among those killed when the car bomb was detonated just before midday on March 20, 1972.

More than 130 people were injured, some maimed for life.

The attack was the IRA’s first major use of a bomb concealed in a vehicle and proved to be a tipping point in the government’s fight against terrorism.

Within days of the atrocity, the government had introduced a ban on cars being left unattended in town and city centres, began planning for a ‘ring of steel’ security fence to be placed around Belfast and also paved the way for the introduction of a confidential telephone line for reporting terrorist activity.

By the end of that week the Westminster government had announced the closure of Stormont and the imposition of ‘direct rule’.

Jim Allister said: “The carnage which the IRA visited on Donegall Street on 20 March 1972 is a particularly stark example of their barbarity.

“The seven innocent victims of the bombings deserve to be remembered and the bravery of RUC officers like Constable Ernest McAllister who was murdered as he sought to evacuate the area.

“The fact that three binmen and a 79-year-old pensioner were among the victims also speaks to the indiscriminate nature of IRA terror and the innocence of victims.”

Mr Allister added: “The News Letter is to be commended for remembering the anniversary in the fitting fashion in which it did and we can all be glad that this attack on the free press failed as the publication of yesterday’s paper showed”.

On Twitter, NI Secretary Brandon Lewis said his thoughts were with those bereaved by the IRA bombs in Warrington on the same date in 1993, and added: “Also on this day, we remember the seven victims of the Donegall Street bombing who tragically died in the senseless and devastating attack in Belfast”.

DUP councillor Dale Pankhurst tweeted: “The IRA bomb warnings deliberately pushed civilians, including children, towards the car bomb. A heinous atrocity that exposed the terrorism of the IRA. We will never forget.”

READ: Attack on News Letter building that claimed seven lives

READ: March 1972 car bomb a deadly new development

READ: Family’s pride at selfless actions of murdered RUC officer

READ: Veteran journalist’s vivid memories of the bomb carnage

Editorial: A 1972 terrorist attack which failed to silence this newspaper

Victims’ group: There has been no justice, accountability or truth over the atrocity in Donegall Street in 1972

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