Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

288 • IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMYNorthern Irish and British authorities, by means of kneecappings,summary executions, and threats against family members. In lateryears the IRA developed the tactic of using exposed informers assuicide bombers driving car bombs into Northern Irish police andBritish troops. The suicide driver was usually a married man withfamily who was told that his family would be murdered if he did notcooperate. Such a suicide car bomber killed himself and five soldiersin an attack on a Londonderry checkpoint on 24 October 1990.The primary targets of the IRA have been British army troops,Northern Irish security forces, judicial officials, prison wardens andguards, and members of Ulster Protestant political parties and militias.Most attacks have been carried out in Northern Ireland, withsome attacks against British targets in the Irish Republic and manymore attacks in England. From 1969 to 2001, according to MalcolmSutton’s research, direct killings by the IRA had reached a total of1,707 out of a total of 3,524 people directly killed by the conflictin Northern Ireland. All told, approximately 30,000 people weremaimed or received nonfatal injuries in the conflict, of whom about20,000 were civilians.A few of the more notable actions of the IRA include the following:On 21 July 1972, “Bloody Friday,” the IRA conducted 22 bombings inBelfast, killing 11 and injuring about 100. During September 1973 theIRA bombed the London Stock Exchange, the British House of Commons,the Bank of England, the London subway, and several shoppingareas. On 21 November 1974, the IRA bombed two pubs in Birmingham,England, killing 21 and injuring around 120. On 21 July 1976 theIRA assassinated Christopher Ewart-Briggs, British Ambassador toIreland, by destroying his vehicle with a land mine. On 27 August 1979the IRA assassinated Louis, Earl Mountbatten by bombing his yacht,killing three others with him. On 20 July 1982 the IRA set off two radiocontrolledbombs in London, the first striking a detachment of theQueen’s Household Cavalry passing through Hyde Park, killing foursoldiers, and the other bomb killing seven members of the Royal GreenJackets, a military band, in Regent’s Park. On 17 December 1983 theIRA car-bombed Harrod’s department store in London, killing five(including one American) and injuring 80 others. On 12 October 1984the IRA bombed the hotel holding the British Conservative Party conferencein Brighton, England, killing one cabinet member and threeother people and injuring 32 others. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher