Ballygawley bus bombing The Ballygawley bus bombing was a roadside bomb attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) on a bus carrying British soldiers in Northern Ireland . It occurred in the early hours of 20 August 1988 in the townland of Curr near Ballygawley , County Tyrone . The attack killed eight soldiers and wounded another 28 . It was the second - deadliest attack on the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles . After the bombing , it began ferrying its troops in and out of the region by helicopter . Background . The Provisional IRA had been attacking British Army patrols and convoys with roadside bombs regularly since the early 1970s . Most of these attacks took place in rural parts of Northern Ireland ; especially County Tyrone ( where the IRA ' s Tyrone Brigade was active ) and southern County Armagh ( heartland of the South Armagh Brigade ) . In August 1979 , the IRA ambushed a British Army convoy with two large roadside bombs near Warrenpoint , killing eighteen soldiers . This was the deadliest attack on the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles . In May 1981 , five British soldiers were killed when their Saracen APC was ripped apart by a roadside bomb near Bessbrook , County Armagh . In July 1983 , four British soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck an IRA landmine near Ballygawley , County Tyrone . In December 1985 , the Tyrone IRA launched an assault on the police barracks in Ballygawley , shooting dead two officers and destroying the barracks with a bomb . In June 1988 , six off - duty British soldiers were killed when an IRA bomb exploded underneath their van in Lisburn . It had been attached to the van as they were taking part in a charity marathon . Attack . On the night of 19 / 20 August 1988 , an unmarked 52 - seater bus was transporting 36 soldiers of The Light Infantry from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh . The soldiers , who came from England , had just finished 18 months of a two - year tour of duty in Northern Ireland and were returning to the base after a short holiday . As it was driving along the main road from Ballygawley to Omagh , at about 12 : 30 , IRA members remotely detonated a roadside bomb containing of semtex . According to police , the bomb had been planted in a vehicle by the roadside and had been detonated by command wire from away . The blast hurled the bus 30 metres down the road and threw the soldiers into neighbouring hedges and fields . It left a crater deep and scattered wreckage over a wide area . Witnesses described finding dead and wounded soldiers strewn on the road and caught in the wreckage of the bus . Others were walking around , " stunned " . Some of the first to arrive on the scene and offer help were loyalist bandsmen returning from a parade , who had also been travelling in buses . Eight of the soldiers were killed and the remaining 28 were wounded . The soldiers killed were : Jayson Burfitt ( 19 ) , Richard Greener ( 21 ) , Mark Norsworthy ( 18 ) , Stephen Wilkinson ( 18 ) , Jason Winter ( 19 ) , Blair Bishop ( 19 ) , Alexander Lewis ( 18 ) and Peter Bullock ( 21 ) . This was the single biggest loss of life for the British Army since the Warrenpoint ambush in 1979 . An interview with one of the survivors , David Harding , was published in the book " A Long Long War : Voices from the British Army in Northern Ireland , 1969 – 98 " by Ken Wharton . An inquest into the attack was told that the road was usually off - limits to military vehicles , due to the threat from the IRA . The driver of the bus , who was also a soldier , claimed he had been directed on to the road by diversion signs . The inquest heard that signs had not been placed by the police or the roads service . The IRA denied placing any signs and said that military buses often used the road . The mother of one of those killed accused the military of negligence and claimed it was " trying to conceal the truth " . Aftermath . Shortly thereafter , the Provisional IRA issued a statement claiming responsibility . It said that the attack had been carried - out by its Tyrone Brigade and added : " We will not lay down our arms until the peace of a British disengagement from Ireland " . The security forces suspected that an informer may have told the IRA of the bus ' s route and the time it would pass a specific spot . After the attack the British military decided to start ferrying their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter to avoid any future attacks like this . Tom King , then British Government ' s Northern Ireland Secretary , said there was " some evidence " that the explosives used were part of a consignment from Libya ( see Provisional IRA arms importation ) . He also stated that the possibility of reintroducing internment was " under review " . Libyan weaponry enabled the IRA to mount some of its biggest operations during its campaign . The Ballygawley bus bombing is believed to have been one of these attacks . On 30 August 1988 , three IRA members were ambushed and killed by the Special Air Service ( SAS ) at Drumnakilly , County Tyrone . The men — Gerard Harte , Martin Harte and Brian Mullin — were identified by British intelligence as the perpetrators of the bombing . Two months after the attack , the British Government introduced the broadcasting ban . It meant that the voices of Sinn Féin and IRA members were not allowed to be broadcast on television or radio . The Ballygawley bus bombing is believed to have influenced the Government ' s decision to introduce the ban .