Manchester was targeted by the IRA in the 1996 Manchester bombing in what was described as the biggest bomb on British soil since World War 2. Manchester was targeted in part because security in London was so rigid due to parades in London for the Queen's Trooping of the Colour. However it was telling that the terrorists warned of the exact location beforehand to save human lives in a city with a rich history of Irish migration, balancing a fine line of shocking Britain and alienating supporters back home. On 20 June 1996, the IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing, and stated that it "sincerely regretted" causing injury to civilians. This stood in sharp contrast to their earlier 1993 bombing of nearby Warrington which killed two English children aged 3 and 12.