A bomb-damaged building at Canary Wharf in London's Docklands after the explosion of an IRA bomb that signalled the end of the ceasefire, 15th February 1996. (Photo by Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

30 years ago today, two men were killed in a massive explosion at Canary Wharf – and the IRA proved that you can bomb your way to the negotiating table, writes Eliot Wilson

At around 5.00 pm, 30 years ago today, a blue Ford Iveco Cargo truck was parked 80 yards from South Quay DLR station, just where the tracks cross Marsh Wall. It was a cold and overcast Friday, barely 6℃, and the sun was setting.

At 7.01 pm, a 3,000lb bomb on the truck’s flatbed was detonated. Plastic sacks filled with ammonium nitrate and sugar had been packed around metal scaffolding poles containing 10lb of Libyan-supplied Semtex, and a two-hour timer had been activated by a switch in the cab. The explosion was enormous and viciously powerful, leaving a crater 32ft across and 10ft deep; it was heard and felt across London, and shook One Canada Square, the 771ft tower which was then the tallest building in Britain, half a mile away.

The Provisional IRA’s 18-month ceasefire had ended.

By the end of 1993, the Provisional IRA (PIRA) had been waging a terrorist campaign for 24 years. In the years preceding, London had experienced two major bomb attacks at the Baltic Exchange in April 1992 and Bishopsgate in April 1993, and a large explosive device underneath One Canada Water had been detected and defused in November 1992. It was two decades since the first PIRA bombings in mainland Britain, with car bombs outside the Old Bailey and on Whitehall in 1973.

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