IRA London Docklands bombing 1996: Victims gather to remember murdered friends on 28th anniversary of half-tonne Libyan Semtex bomb attack

Shopkeepers Inam Bashir and John Jeffries were killed by a half-tonne IRA bomb parked outside their business. Over 100 other people were injured – 42 of them severely.

The bomb, which contained Semtex supplied to the IRA by Col Gaddafi - caused some £150m of damage.

A long list of IRA victims who suffered from IRA bombs made with Libyan Semtex have been locked in a lengthy political battle with the UK government to secure compensation from Libya.

Libya has compensated French, German and US victims of its terror attacks, but UK victims believe secret trade deals done between the UK and Libya have frozen them out of equal treatment.

At 9am on Friday 9 February, the bereaved and victims of the 1996 Docklands Bomb were joined by victims of the 1992 IRA Baltic Exchange bombing in London, which killed three people.

Due to the declining health of the Docklands victims, several had to attend by video link.

Docklands Victims Association (DVA) President Jonathan Ganesh suffered a catalogue of permanent injuries in the attack, as well as PTSD.

He and others laid floral tributes at the memorial plaque at the scene of the bomb at the service.

“It is now 28 years since I saw my two friends Inam Bashir and John Jeffries killed and other people left severely injured," he said. "It was horrific. It is so sad that a number of the victims of this attack due to their declining health were unable to attend service in person."

Despite not being able to attend in person due to failing health, Ihsan Bashir's brother, Inam, was pleased to attend by videolink.

"It was a very moving service and I was touched that people have not forgotten my brother and all those impacted by acts of evil," he said.

Local resident Mrs Janis Rowland said she still remembers “the two lovely boys who were killed in their confectionary shop”. She added: “My children Nicky and Sam would often buy sweets from the shop after school. Our community will never forget them.”

Also attending was Susanne Dodd, whose father Met Police Inspector Stephan Dodd was killed in the Harrods IRA bomb attack in December 1983.

“So many victims are now seriously ill and are still waiting for adequate compensation from Libya," she said.

"US, French and German victims of Gaddafi/IRA-sponsored terrorism were compensated many years ago and have access to specialist care for many years. It broke my heart today to learn at the service that several seriously ill and disabled victims of this IRA attack had to attend online. The UK government should be ashamed”.