1972 Aldershot Bombing

The 1972 Aldershot bombing was an attack by the Official Irish Republican Army (Official IRA) using a car bomb on 22 February 1972 in Aldershot, England. The bomb targeted the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade and was claimed as a revenge attack for Bloody Sunday. Seven civilian staff (mostly female cleaners) were killed and 19 were wounded. It was the Official IRA's largest attack in Britain during "the Troubles" and one of its last major actions before it declared a permanent ceasefire in May 1972. The perpetrator Noel Jenkinson was a Protestant originally from Meath, but had been living in England since 1958; he had been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain before joining the British Maoist group CDRCU.

The Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Troubles. To help restore control after the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) had lost it, the British Army was deployed on the streets of Northern Ireland. In December 1969, the Irish Republican Army split into two factions – the Official IRA and the Provisional IRA. Both factions' retaliation against the British Army during the Falls Curfew resulted in sustained campaigns against the security forces.

On 30 January 1972, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment shot 26 unarmed civilians during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry. Fourteen people died, including teenagers. This incident became known as Bloody Sunday and dramatically increased recruitment to the two IRAs.