Teebane bombing

Teebane bombing
Part of The Troubles
Location	Teebane Crossroads, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°39′43.2″N 6°57′28.8″W / 54.662000°N 6.958000°W / 54.662000; -6.958000Coordinates: 54°39′43.2″N 6°57′28.8″W / 54.662000°N 6.958000°W / 54.662000; -6.958000
Date	17 January 1992 17:00 (UTC)
Attack type	Roadside bomb
Deaths	7 civilians 1 Royal Irish Rangers soldier
Non-fatal injuries	6
Perpetrator	Provisional IRA

The Teebane bombing (or Teebane massacre) took place on 17 January 1992 at a rural crossroads between Omagh and Cookstown in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. A roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 construction workers who had been repairing a British Army base in Omagh. Eight of the men were killed and the rest were wounded. The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) claimed responsibility, saying that the workers were killed because they were "collaborating" with the "forces of occupation".

As all of those killed were Protestant, some interpreted the bombing as a sectarian attack against their community. On 5 February, the Ulster loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) retaliated by shooting dead five Catholics at a betting shop in an Irish nationalist area of Belfast.

Since the beginning of its campaign in 1969, the Provisional IRA had launched frequent attacks on British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases in Northern Ireland. In August 1985 it began targeting civilians who offered services to the security forces, particularly those employed by the security forces to maintain and repair its bases. The first to be killed was Seamus McAvoy (46), a Catholic who was shot dead at his home in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, for selling portable buildings to the RUC. In October 1990, the IRA launched three "proxy bomb" attacks. Three men, who worked for the security forces, were tied into cars loaded with explosives and ordered to drive to British Army checkpoints while their families were held at gunpoint. The bombs were then remotely detonated. Six soldiers and one of the forced drivers were killed in the first two attacks. A third proxy bomb was driven to Lisanelly British Army base in Omagh, but the main bomb failed to explode. An earlier attack had taken place on this barracks in January, when an IRA bomb damaged the perimeter fence. Between August 1985 and January 1992, the IRA killed 23 people who had been working for (or offering services to) the security forces. The IRA also alleged that some of those targeted had links with Ulster loyalist paramilitaries.