1996 Manchester City Centre bombing

Manchester bombing
Part of The Troubles
Corporation Street after the bombing
Type	Truck bomb
Location	Corporation Street, Manchester, England 53°29′00″N 2°14′37″W / 53.4833°N 2.2435°W / 53.4833; -2.2435Coordinates: 53°29′00″N 2°14′37″W / 53.4833°N 2.2435°W / 53.4833; -2.2435
Target	Manchester city centre
Date	15 June 1996 11:17 (BST)
Executed by	Provisional IRA
Casualties	0 killed 212 injured

The 1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on Saturday 15 June 1996. The IRA detonated a 1,500-kilogram (3,300 lb) truck bomb on Corporation Street in the centre of Manchester, England. The biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since World War II, it targeted the city's infrastructure and economy and caused devastating damage, estimated by insurers at £700 million (equivalent to £1.2 billion in 2015) – only surpassed by the 2001 September 11 Attacks and 1993 Bishopsgate bombing in terms of financial cost.

The IRA had sent telephoned warnings about 90 minutes before the bomb detonated. At least 75,000 people were evacuated from the area, but the bomb squad were unable to defuse the bomb in time. More than 200 people were injured but there were no fatalities despite the strength of the bomb, which has been largely credited to the fast response of emergency services. At the time, England was hosting the Euro '96 football championships and a Russia vs Germany match was to take place in Manchester the following day.

The attack was part of the Provisional IRA's campaign since 1970 aimed at forcing the British government to withdraw from Northern Ireland. Although Manchester had been the target of IRA bombs before 1996, it had not been subjected to an attack on this scale. In February 1996, the IRA had ended its seventeen-month ceasefire with a large truck bomb attack on London's Canary Wharf financial district, though the 3,300-pound bomb of Manchester was three times the size of Canary Wharf. The Manchester bombing was condemned by the British and Irish governments and U.S. President Bill Clinton. Five days after the blast, the IRA issued a statement in which it claimed responsibility, but regretted causing injury to civilians.