1996 Docklands bombing

On the evening of 9 February 1996, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a large truck bomb at South Quay, near Canary Wharf in London's Docklands. The device, made from ammonium nitrate and sugar packed around Semtex-filled booster tubes, had been assembled in Northern Ireland, shipped to Scotland via the Stena Line Larne–Stranraer ferry, and driven to Barking in east London, where it was fitted with a timer and anti-handling device before being parked near South Quay Docklands Light Railway station.

The IRA issued a statement to Irish broadcaster RTÉ announcing an end to its ceasefire, followed by at least six coded telephone warnings about the bomb. Police began evacuating the area around 6 p.m., but confusion over the bomb's exact location meant some buildings were only partially cleared and some staff were told to return inside. Officers located the truck at 6:48 p.m. An officer warned two men working in a nearby newsagents to leave, but they stayed to close the shop. The bomb detonated at 7:01 p.m., killing shop owner Inam Bashir, 29, and employee John Jeffries, 31, and injuring more than 100 people, 39 of whom required hospital treatment. Some injuries were severe and permanent, including a man who suffered a coma and lasting brain damage and a woman blinded in one eye. The explosion caused an estimated £150 million in damage, destroying or badly damaging several nearby buildings, and left a crater 32 feet wide and 10 feet deep.

The bombing ended the IRA's ceasefire, declared in August 1994, which had broken down amid disputes over the British government's demand that the IRA disarm before Sinn Féin could join full peace talks. The IRA blamed the British government for the collapse of the process; the British, Irish, and American governments and major political parties condemned the attack. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Condon said it reflected "a failure of humanity" rather than a security failure. Weeks later, the British government dropped its precondition that the IRA disarm before talks, and all-party negotiations resumed in June 1996.

Investigators traced the truck's route using CCTV and eyewitness accounts, recovering thumbprints from locations linked to the bomb's journey. In April 1997, the SAS captured an IRA sniper team in South Armagh; one member, James McArdle, was found to match the thumbprints recovered during the Docklands investigation. McArdle was convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in June 1998 of conspiracy to cause explosions and sentenced to 25 years. Murder charges were dropped after a newspaper article was published during jury deliberations, and prosecutors chose not to retry them. McArdle was separately convicted of membership in the IRA sniper team and sentenced to 50 years on those charges. He was released in June 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, with a royal prerogative of mercy from Queen Elizabeth II.