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1989: Ten dead in Kent barracks bomb
A devastating explosion at an army barracks in Kent has killed 10 young soldiers.
The republican group IRA has said it planted the bomb which blew apart the recreation centre at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal.
Twenty-two men were also injured in the blast just before 0830 GMT - eight seriously - and two are still missing, feared buried under the rubble. Most of the victims were teenagers.
Opposition MPs have expressed concern over the level of security at the base, which was partly guarded by a private security firm.
"It was one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard"
Local resident
The device, planted in the recreation centre changing room, destroyed all three floors of the building and severely damaged dozens of nearby houses.
The blast was powerful enough to be clearly heard in the centre of Deal two miles (3.2 km) away.
"It was frightening - it was one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard," said one woman who lives close to the barracks.
Rescuers and other marines from the music school attempted to clear away the rubble of the building with their bare hands in the search for survivors before heavy lifting equipment arrived.
Kent ambulance workers, who were on strike at the time, voluntarily abandoned their industrial action to ferry the casualties to hospitals in Deal and Canterbury.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - who was told of the attack during a flight from Tokyo to Moscow - said she was "shocked and extremely sad".
The opposition leader, Neil Kinnock, condemned the murder of the unarmed bandsmen as an "awful atrocity".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2528223.stm
A devastating explosion at an army barracks in Kent has killed 10 young soldiers.
The republican group IRA has said it planted the bomb which blew apart the recreation centre at the Royal Marine School of Music in Deal.
Twenty-two men were also injured in the blast just before 0830 GMT - eight seriously - and two are still missing, feared buried under the rubble. Most of the victims were teenagers.
Opposition MPs have expressed concern over the level of security at the base, which was partly guarded by a private security firm.
"It was one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard"
Local resident
The device, planted in the recreation centre changing room, destroyed all three floors of the building and severely damaged dozens of nearby houses.
The blast was powerful enough to be clearly heard in the centre of Deal two miles (3.2 km) away.
"It was frightening - it was one of the loudest explosions I've ever heard," said one woman who lives close to the barracks.
Rescuers and other marines from the music school attempted to clear away the rubble of the building with their bare hands in the search for survivors before heavy lifting equipment arrived.
Kent ambulance workers, who were on strike at the time, voluntarily abandoned their industrial action to ferry the casualties to hospitals in Deal and Canterbury.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - who was told of the attack during a flight from Tokyo to Moscow - said she was "shocked and extremely sad".
The opposition leader, Neil Kinnock, condemned the murder of the unarmed bandsmen as an "awful atrocity".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/d...00/2528223.stm
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