1972 Aldershot Bombing The Aldershot bombing was an attack by the Official Irish Republican Army ( Official IRA ) using a car bomb on 22 February 1972 in Aldershot , England . The bomb targeted the headquarters of the British Army ' s 16th Parachute Brigade and was claimed as a revenge attack for Bloody Sunday . Seven civilian staff were killed and nineteen wounded . It was the Official IRA ' s largest attack in Britain during " the Troubles " and one of its last major actions before it declared a ceasefire in May 1972 . Background . The Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 marked the beginning of the conflict known as " The Troubles " . To help restore order , the British Army was deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland . In December 1969 , the Irish Republican Army split into two factions – the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA . Both factions then began campaigns against the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary . On 30 January 1972 , soldiers of the British Army ' s Parachute Regiment shot 26 civilians during a civil rights march in Derry . Fourteen people died . This incident became known as Bloody Sunday . The bombing . The target of the Official IRA bomb was the headquarters of the 16th Parachute Brigade , elements of which had been involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings . Despite warnings , the ' open ' garrison meant there was no security or controlled access to the camp . A Ford Cortina car containing a time bomb was left in the car park , deliberately positioned outside the officer ' s mess . The bomb exploded at 12 : 40 pm on 22 February , destroying the officer ' s mess and wrecking several nearby Army office buildings . The soldiers who were the intended targets were not present , as the regiment itself was stationed abroad and most staff officers were in their offices rather than the mess . Nonetheless , seven civilian staff were killed – five female kitchen staff who were leaving the premises , an elderly gardener , and Father Gerard Weston ( a Roman Catholic British Army chaplain ) . Nineteen people were also wounded by the explosion . On 23 February , the Official IRA issued a statement claiming that it had carried out the attack in revenge for Bloody Sunday . It added : " Any civilian casualties would be very much regretted as our target was the officers responsible for the Derry outrages " . The Official IRA also said that the bombing would be the first of many such attacks on the headquarters of British Army regiments serving in Northern Ireland . Aftermath . As the bomb had killed only civilian staff , the Official IRA received harsh and widespread criticism . On 29 May 1972 , the Official IRA ' s leadership called a ceasefire and stated that it would only launch future attacks in self - defence . The Aldershot bombing was believed to have been one of the factors that led to this decision . In November 1972 , an OIRA volunteer , Noel Jenkinson , was convicted for his part in the bombing and received a lengthy jail term , dying in prison of heart failure four years later . The remaining conspirators were never captured . No inquiry into the incident or the deaths of those killed was ever held . Shortly afterwards , many of the parachute regiment battalions were either disbanded and reorganised , leaving Aldershot . The larger and more militant Provisional IRA continued its campaign and also began to attack military and commercial targets in Britain . Its first operation in Britain took place on 8 March 1973 , when it detonated car bombs in London .