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later stated it had carried out the bombing. It was the second bombing in
Rheindahlen, the first being in 1973, and the start of the IRA's campaign on mainland Europe from the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Although British soldiers were targeted, most of the injured were actually German officers and
604:
Other than attacks in
Northern Ireland and England the Provisional IRA also carried out attacks in other countries such as West Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, where British soldiers were based. Between 1979 and 1990, eight unarmed soldiers and six civilians died in these attacks. It was the
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was unable to position the car bomb closer to the mess, because the car park was full of vehicles. Unknown to the IRA unit, most of the vehicles were owned by West German military officers who had been invited to spend a social evening with their
British counterparts. Had the IRA's operation plan
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The IRA planted a 300-pound car bomb inside JHQ Rheindahlen, near the officers' mess. When the large car bomb exploded 31 people were injured, some of them badly. Twenty-seven
Germans and four Britons were hurt in the bombing at 22:30 local time, among them Generalmajor Hans Hoster, the Chief of
676:, a few miles south of Rheindahlen, near the Dutch border. The bomb caused parts of the ceiling to collapse and doors were ripped from their frames. A police spokesman said the blast blew out windows in buildings several hundred yards away.
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been carried out fully many of these German officers could have been killed and the start of the IRA's Europe campaign would have been a diplomatic and military disaster and a big blow to any of the IRA's international support.
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The IRA later said it had carried out the bombing of the
Rheindahlen barracks. A statement from the IRA said: "Our unit's brief was to inflict a devastating blow but was ordered to be careful to avoid civilian casualties."
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The
National Democratic Front for the Liberation of West Germany, a previously unheard of group, also claimed to have been behind the attack, but this was dismissed by police investigators.
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in
February 1980. Coe's assassination was one of the first high-profile killings by the IRA in Germany and on mainland Europe. A year before, British Ambassador to the Netherlands Sir
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It looked like it was a reasonably successful attack from the IRA's point of view but the IRA actually had a close escape. The only reason people had not been killed was that the IRA
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The force of the blast ripped up the road and caused extensive damage to parked cars and surrounding buildings. The injured were taken to the RAF hospital at
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first IRA attack in West
Germany since a British Army officer, Colonel Mark Coe, was shot dead by an IRA unit outside his home in,
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644:) envisaged a three-pronged offensive that would start in Northern Ireland and then spread to British targets in mainland Europe.
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633:, West Germany. There were no injuries in the attack. There was also a mortar attack on British Army base in Germany in 1996.
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According to author Ed
Moloney's "The Secret History of the IRA", IRA Chief of Staff Kevin McKenna before the capture of the
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was assassinated, whilst four
British soldiers were hurt in the
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915:Attacks on military installations in the 1980s
870:Provisional IRA bombings in continental Europe
617:in Belgium, just one day after the killing of
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910:Attacks on military installations in Germany
699:The British Army of the Rhine was renamed
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16:IRA attack on British Army in West Germany
323:Carlton Tower and Portman Hotel shootings
111:Learn how and when to remove this message
880:20th-century history of the British Army
824:"CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1996"
772:"CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1981"
905:Terrorist incidents in Germany in 1987
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629:(INLA) bombed a British Army base in
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49:adding citations to reliable sources
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240:in Britain and continental Europe
920:Car and truck bombings in Europe
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895:Crime in North Rhine-Westphalia
885:1980s in North Rhine-Westphalia
865:20th century in Mönchengladbach
36:needs additional citations for
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60:"1987 Rheindahlen bombing"
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383:Chelsea Barracks bombing
348:Biddy Mulligan's bombing
126:1987 Rheindahlen bombing
713:OsnabrĂĽck mortar attack
663:Royal Air Force Germany
583:military barracks, the
557:The Troubles in Ireland
543:1996 Manchester bombing
528:Heathrow mortar attacks
498:1992 Manchester bombing
478:Baltic Exchange bombing
303:Birmingham pub bombings
288:Tower of London bombing
855:1987 building bombings
701:British Forces Germany
406:Brighton hotel bombing
293:Guildford pub bombings
615:1979 Brussels bombing
473:London Bridge bombing
432:Deal barracks bombing
860:1987 in West Germany
822:Melaugh, Dr Martin.
770:Melaugh, Dr Martin.
523:Finchley Rd bombings
508:1993 Harrods bombing
493:Stoke Newington bomb
373:Glasgow pub bombings
298:Woolwich pub bombing
45:improve this article
655:Northern Army Group
518:Bishopsgate bombing
503:Warrington bombings
488:Sussex Arms bombing
483:Staples Cnr bombing
411:Rheindahlen bombing
368:Airey Neave killing
313:Talbot Arms bombing
308:Pillar box bombings
273:Westminster bombing
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338:Piccadilly bombing
283:Parliament bombing
263:Old Bailey bombing
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744:Sutton, Malcolm.
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56:Find sources:
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34:This article
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831:. Retrieved
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589:West Germany
585:British Army
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236:The Troubles
147:West Germany
133:the Troubles
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43:Please help
38:verification
35:
18:
648:The bombing
390:1982 – 1998
252:1970 – 1981
176:Attack type
143:Rheindahlen
849:Categories
731:References
600:Background
555:See also:
71:newspapers
688:Aftermath
607:Bielefeld
160:UTC+01:00
101:July 2016
707:See also
621:and the
577:car bomb
181:Car bomb
139:Location
131:Part of
674:Wegberg
631:Herford
195:Injured
158:22:30 (
85:scholar
833:17 May
807:17 May
781:17 May
755:17 May
638:Eksund
575:was a
187:Deaths
167:Target
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642:Libya
92:JSTOR
78:books
835:2017
809:2017
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661:and
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559:and
153:Date
64:news
681:ASU
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47:by
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