HC Deb 24 April 1972 vol 835 cc213-4W
The Rev. Ian Paisley

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in what circumstances the Army was called to Ballymoney on Wednesday night 12th April after an Irish Republican Army terrorist bomb exploded; what weight was the bomb; how it was detonated; what injuries occurred; what damage was done; and what arrests were made.

Mr. David Howell

An anonymous telephone call to the exchange shortly before midnight, gave warning that a bomb had been placed in a van. The van was located shortly after midnight. Security forces were deployed. There was insufficient time to evacuate the area and the bomb exploded at 12.40 a.m. permission, circulate a statement in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

The explosion started a fire in a shop and a flat over the shop. Mrs. McAuley, aged 60, died in the fire which gutted the flat. Army technical officers estimated that the bomb weighed 50–100 lb. and that it was detonated by a timing device. No arrests have been made.