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The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on Saturday 15 June 1996 in Manchester, England. The bomb, placed in a van on Corporation Street in Manchester city centre, targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused widespread damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (£ as of ). The IRA had sent telephoned warnings about 90 minutes before the bomb detonated. The area was evacuated, but the bomb squad were unable to defuse the bomb in time. Two hundred and twelve people were injured, but there were no fatalities. Since 1970 the Provisional IRA had been waging a campaign with the ultimate goal of a united Ireland. Although Manchester had been the target of IRA bombs before 1996, it had not been subjected to an attack on this scale; the biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since World War II. The bombing was condemned by the British and Irish governments and US President Bill Clinton. Five days after the blast the IRA issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility, but regretted causing injury to civilians. Several buildings near the explosion were damaged beyond repair and had to be demolished, while many more were closed for months for structural repairs. Most of the rebuilding work was completed by the end of 1999, at a cost of £1.2 billion, although redevelopment continued until 2005. At the time of the explosion England was playing host to the Euro 96 football championships; a match between Russia and Germany was scheduled for the following day at Old Trafford, and the city had the year before won its bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The perpetrators of the attack have not been caught, and Greater Manchester Police have conceded it is unlikely that anyone will be charged in connection with the bombing. ==Background== Following the 12th century Norman invasion of Ireland and the Tudor conquest of Ireland beginning in the 1530s, Ireland was largely under English rule by the end of the Nine Years' War in 1603. The Irish revolutionary period of the early 20th century resulted in the Partition of Ireland in 1921 under the terms of the Government of Ireland Act 1920.〔Northern Ireland became a distinct region of the United Kingdom, by Order in Council on 3 May 1921 (Statutory Rules & Orders published by authority (SR&O) 1921, No. 533).〕 The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) was formed from the old Irish Republican Army in 1970, with the aim of achieving the unification of Ireland. It was supported by arms and funding from Libya〔Bowyer Bell, J. (1997). ''The Secret Army: The IRA''. Transaction Publishers, pp. 556–571. ISBN 1-56000-901-2〕 and from groups in the United States. The IRA used violence to achieve its aims until 1994, despite intermittent truces. The Downing Street Declaration of 1993 allowed Sinn Féin, a political party associated with the IRA,〔 to participate in talks about the future of Northern Ireland on condition that it called a cease-fire. On 31 August 1994, the IRA announced its "complete cessation of military operations", but that ended when the Conservative government, dependent on unionist votes in Parliament, began to insist the IRA give up its arms first. The result of this was the resumption of the IRA campaign on 9 February 1996, when it detonated a bomb in Canary Wharf, killing two people. The IRA then planted five other devices in London within the space of 10 weeks. Manchester had been the target of earlier IRA bombs. A man was imprisoned for 15 years in 1975 for placing two firebombs in Manchester city centre in 1973–1974. In February 1974, a bomb exploded in Manchester Magistrates' Court, injuring twelve people. IRA bomb factories were discovered in Fallowfield and Salford and five men were imprisoned for planned attacks in North West England.〔 Manchester may have been chosen because the city was one of the hosts for the Euro 96 football championships, attended by visitors and media organisations from all over Europe, guaranteeing the IRA what Margaret Thatcher called the "oxygen of publicity". A match between Russia and Germany was scheduled to take place at Old Trafford just over 24 hours after the bomb exploded, and Manchester had the previous year won its bid to host the 2002 Commonwealth Games, at the time the biggest multi-sport event ever to be staged in Britain. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1996 Manchester bombing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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