The scene of devastation following the IRA bomb which destroyed London's Baltic Exchange. - Gulf News Archives Image Credit:

The Baltic exchange offices at 30 St Mary Axe were partially demolished, and the rest of the building extensively damaged by an Irish Republican Army (IRA) bomb attack. The bomb was concealed in a large white truck. It killed three people and injured 91. The bomb also caused damage to surrounding buildings. The IRA, fighting to end British rule in Northern Ireland, issued a statement in Dublin claiming responsibility for the bomb and warning of more to come. The 50kg bomb rocked the heart of the city, the hub of the capital’s financial centre, as traders celebrated a jump in share values following the right-wing Conservative Party’s fourth election victory in a row. The explosion close to the Baltic Exchange, the world’s leading international shipping market, gouged a four-metre crater in the road and left victims lacerated and bloody from flying glass. All the windows in two 25-storey blocks were shattered and police were checking structural damage to nearby buildings.

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