10 Soldiers killed by IRA bomb attack in Deal
Deal, Kent The 22nd of September 1989 AD
Twenty years after British troops arrived in Northern Ireland – in what would be the longest operation the Army has ever undertaken (Operation Banner) – the Provisional IRA’s campaign was showing no signs of curbing its most violent excesses.
The explosion at the Royal Marines School Of Music in Deal, Kent, came in the weeks following the twentieth anniversary of Operation Banner, claiming the lives of ten unarmed soldiers, the majority of whom were teenagers. A further 22 were injured. The ferocity of the blast tore through all three floors of the building, causing structural damage to houses nearby. The Deal bombing came on the back of a series of attacks on British Army barracks: the previous year a North London barracks was bombed, while months before Deal, the Shropshire headquarters of the Parachute Regiment were devastated by three bombs.
The fifteen pound bomb was detonated at 8:22.am in the barracks concert hall. A converted church, the hall was left in ruins. Rescuers, among them Royal Marines stationed at Deal, tried to dig survivors out of the rubble with their bare hands. Their desperate effort to save their comrades was soon backed up by the emergency services, including Kent Ambulance crews who temporarily suspended their strike to take those injured to hospital. The hall was left in ruins. The Royal Marines School Of Music left Deal shortly after the bombing, with what remained of the hall converted into a memorial garden where an annual remembrance service is held.
Amid cross-party condemnation of the attack, the government ploughed on with a comprehensive security review for all British military barracks. Controversy had arisen from the fact that a degree of responsibility for the security of the Deal barracks was shouldered by a private firm. No-one was ever convicted of the attack.
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Comment
From dan russel (was pavey) on 2nd September 2010
im band corporal paveys youngest son Daniel, i was wondering if anything has been done to bring justice, not only to myself, & but the other fammiles wo were affected by the death of the 10 service men killedin this bomb attack?
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