It is thought to have taken over 24 hours to transport the bomb. He wrote that the 40-pound (18 kg) bomb was made in Ballinamore, County Leitrim, and brought to Enniskillen by up to thirty IRA volunteers, moving in relay teams to avoid security patrols. ĭenzil McDaniel, author of Enniskillen: The Remembrance Sunday Bombing, later interviewed security and IRA contacts, putting together an account of the bombers' movements. However, a high-ranking IRA member said that it was suggested by IRA men at the local level and sanctioned by a "middle level" officer. Although IRA units were given "a degree of operational autonomy" at the time, they believed that such a bombing must have been sanctioned by IRA Northern Command. The bombing was thought by the British and Irish security forces to have involved at least two IRA units, from both sides of the border. One of the coffins was knocked to the ground and a number of civilians and officers were injured. When an IRA gunman fired a three-volley salute over the coffins, police baton charged and fired plastic bullets into the crowd. A week before the bombing, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) clashed with mourners at the funeral of IRA volunteers Eddie McSheffrey and Paddy Deery. It has also been suggested that it was partly a retaliation for the alleged harassment of Republican memorial services by the security forces. The IRA said that the bombing was an attempt to kill British soldiers. The bombing is often seen as a turning point in the Troubles, an incident that shook the IRA "to its core", and spurred on new efforts by Irish nationalists towards a political solution to the conflict. Loyalist paramilitaries responded to the bombing with revenge attacks on Catholic civilians. It also facilitated the passing of the Extradition Act, which made it easier to extradite IRA suspects from the Republic of Ireland to the United Kingdom. The bombing was strongly condemned by all sides and undermined support for the IRA and Sinn Féin. The IRA said it had made a mistake and that its target had been the British soldiers parading to the memorial. A twelfth man was fatally wounded, entering a coma from which he would later die, and 63 were injured. Eleven people (10 civilians and a police officer) were initially killed, many of them elderly. A Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb exploded near the town's war memorial ( cenotaph) during a Remembrance Sunday ceremony, which was being held to commemorate British military war dead. The Remembrance Day bombing (also known as the Enniskillen bombing or Poppy Day massacre) took place on 8 November 1987 in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud
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