Cannon Street train bombing

The Cannon Street train bombing was a bomb attack against commuter rail at Cannon Street station in the City of London, United Kingdom. A 10 lb bomb was detonated in an empty train at the terminus in the morning of Thursday 4 March 1976. The bomb wounded eight commuters in another passing train. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was responsible for the blast.[1]

Cannon Street train bombing
Part of the Troubles
Location	City of London, United Kingdom
Date	4 March 1976 08:48 (UTC)
Attack type	Bomb
Deaths	0
Injured	8
Perpetrator	Provisional IRA

Minutes earlier, the train had been full of rush-hour commuters from Sevenoaks, and had the bomb exploded earlier it would have caused many more casualties and likely fatalities.[2][3]

At the time, the IRA was targeting trains in London. On 13 February 1976, a 20 lb bomb at Oxford Circus tube station was safely defused. Eleven days after Cannon Street, a 5 lb bomb prematurely detonated in a train at West Ham station. The next day, one man was injured in a tube train blast at Wood Green tube station.[4]

See also

• Bombings of King's Cross and Euston stations
• West Ham station attack
• Bombings of Paddington and Victoria stations

References

1. Jones, Ian (31 October 2016). London: Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up: The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867. Frontline Books. ISBN 9781473878990 – via Google Books.
2. "Cannon Street Railway Station". www.gracesguide.co.uk.
3. Limited, Alamy. "Stock Photo - Mar. 03, 1976 - A Bomb Blasts An Empty Train Outside Cannon Street Station: A bomb exploded on an empty train that was leaving Cannon street station in the city of London". Alamy.
4. "1976: Tube driver shot dead". 15 March 1976 – via news.bbc.co.uk.