Warrenpoint bombings kill 18 British soldiers

In 1979, two booby-trap bomb attacks in Warrenpoint, South Down, resulted in the deaths of at least 18 British soldiers. The incident, occurring near the border with the Irish Republic, represents the highest death toll suffered by the British Army in a single event since its deployment to Northern Ireland a decade prior.

The attacks were carried out via two carefully planned explosions. The first, involving a half-ton device hidden under hay on a flat-bed lorry, killed six soldiers from the Second Battalion Parachute Regiment. Twenty minutes later, a second device detonated near a gate house, killing twelve more soldiers, including two Highlanders and ten members of the Parachute Regiment. Among the deceased was Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair, the commanding officer of the Queen’s Own Highlanders.

The IRA claimed responsibility for the Warrenpoint attacks as well as the assassination of Lord Louis Mountbatten, which had occurred only hours earlier in Donegal Bay. Following the incident, the Parachute Regiment continued its patrol duties, and a memorial service was held for the fallen soldiers at the Royal Garrison Church in Aldershot.