This timeline lists known examples of paramilitary and politically motivated violence related to the Troubles in Northern Ireland, from 1995 to 2017. These chronologies are regularly updated as new information becomes available. We welcome information about errors or incidents not listed here. In these timelines the term “civilian” refers to an individual with no known or established political or paramilitary affiliations.

1995
February 7th: The Continuity IRA plants a small bomb in Newry. The explosion causes no damage or injuries.

1996
February 9th: The Provisional IRA detonate a truck laden with ammonium nitrate and explosives in Canary Wharf, London. The blast killed two men and caused significant destruction to buildings and property.
February 15th: Police defuse a five-pound bomb planted by the IRA in a telephone booth in Charing Cross, London.
February 18th: A bomb explodes prematurely on a bus in central London, killing Edward O’Brien, the IRA volunteer carrying it, and injuring other passengers.
June 6th: Provisional IRA operatives hold up and rob a mail van in County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. They steal £81,000 and shoot two Garda [police] officers, one fatally.
June 15th: The Provisional IRA plants a truck bomb on Corporation Street in central Manchester, England. The area is evacuated by police, however the bomb still injuries more than 200 people and causes widespread damage to surrounding buildings.
June 28th: A Provisional IRA unit carries out a mortar attack on a British Army barracks in Osnabruck, Germany. It causes significant destruction but there are no deaths or injuries.
July 13th: The Continuity IRA explodes a large car bomb outside a hotel in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. The blast injures 17 people and causes significant damage to the hotel building.
September 29th: The Continuity IRA plants a 120 kilogram car bomb in Belfast. The bomb is detonated by security forces in a controlled environment.
October 7th: Provisional IRA members plant two large car bombs inside a British Army base at Lisburn. The blasts kill one soldier and injure 31 people.
November 21st: The Continuity IRA deploys a 300 kilogram bomb in Derry but it is located and defused by security forces.

1997 
February 12th: British serviceman Stephen Restorick is killed by an IRA sniper in Bessbrook. He is the last British soldier killed during the Troubles.
March 26th: A Provisional IRA unit attacks a joint British Army and RUC base in Coalisland, County Tyrone, with grenades or improvised bombs. The British SAS retaliated and two civilians were injured by crossfire.
March 26th: An IRA bomb destroys equipment at a railway station in Wilmslow in northern England.
April 5th: A Provisional IRA bomb hoax leads to the cancellation and evacuation of the Grand National horse race in Aintree, England. The race was run two days later.
April 29th: Inspired by the events at Aintree, the Provisional IRA makes a series of hoax telephone warnings. These calls cause chaos to traffic and infrastructure in London and south-east England.
June 16th: Provisional IRA snipers shoot dead two RUC officers on foot patrol in Lurgan, County Armagh. They were the last RUC members to be killed before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
July 6th: The Orange Order march through Catholic areas of Portadown leads to several days of rioting, fighting, firebombing and police action. More than 110 people are injured, half of them RUC officers.
July 31st: A large Continuity IRA bomb is located by hotel staff in Lisbellaw, County Fermanagh and later defused by army specialists.
August 9th: Continuity IRA volunteers disrupt an Apprentice Boys’ march in Derry by planting an empty van and initiating a hoax bomb threat. The incident triggers some violence between marchers and Nationalist onlookers.
September 16th: A 200 kilogram van bomb explodes outside a RUC station in Markethill, County Armagh. The Continuity IRA claims responsibility.
October 30th: A bag containing explosives, petrol and a detonator is located in a government building in Derry. The device failed to explode; the Continuity IRA later claimed responsibility.
November 20th: A small bomb is located behind Belfast’s City Hall and later attributed to the Continuity IRA.
December 27th: Inside HM Prison Maze, INLA inmates shoot dead Billy Wright, leader of a breakaway paramilitary group called the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

1998
January 6th: Security forces locate and defuse a 250 kilogram car bomb in Banbridge, County Down. The group responsible for this bomb is unclear.
January 7th: The Real IRA attempts its first significant operation by planting a large car bomb in Banbridge, County Down. The bomb is defused by security forces.
January 24th: An IRA bomb explodes outside a club in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, causing property damage.
February 20th: An IRA bomb explodes outside a RUC base in Moira, County Down, causing significant damage and injuring several RUC officers.
February 23rd: An IRA bomb explodes near a RUC base in Portadown, County Armagh, causing property damage.
March 3rd: Police in County Louth, Republic of Ireland locate a 300 kilogram car bomb being prepared for deployment across the border.
March 10th: Radical Republicans fire mortars at an RUC base in Armagh.
March 20th: British Army specialists defuse a Continuity IRA bomb in central Derry.
May 4th: An IRA unit, probably belonging to the Continuity IRA, attempts to fire two mortars at an RUC station in Belfast.
May 9th: A failed IRA mortar attack on the RUC in Belleek, County Fermanagh.
May 15th: Security forces deal with a cache of small bombs found in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, belonging to either the Continuity IRA or Real IRA.
July 12th: A UVF unit firebombs a house in Ballymoney, County Antrim, killing three young boys: Jason, Mark and Richard Quinn. The attack was motivated by a personal feud between the UVF unit leader and the boys’ uncle.
July 19th: Eight IRA gunmen murder Andrew Kearney, a Catholic footballer with no political connections. It later emerges that the killing was in retaliation for Kearney’s intervention in a brawl, during which he punched an IRA commander.
August 1st: The Real IRA detonates a large car bomb in Banbridge, County Down, injuring 35 people and causing significant property damage.
August 15th: The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in the business district of Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 29 people and inuring as many as 300. Many of the dead are children and teenagers.

1999
January 14th: IRA gunmen, possibly from the Continuity IRA, fire guns at an RUC base in Belfast. Nobody is injured.
January 27th: Eamon Collins, a former IRA member who had informed on others in the organisation, is found murdered in County Down.
March 15th: Rosemary Nelson, a prominent solicitor who had represented IRA members and Catholic civilians during the Drumcree disputes, is killed by booby trap attached to her car. A Loyalist fringe group, the Red Hand Defenders, claims responsibility.
May 4th: Shots are fired at an RUC base in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, probably by Continuity IRA volunteers.
June 1st: A Continuity IRA bomb hoax leads to a search and significant disruption in Armagh.
December 27th: An IRA bomb hoax leads to the evacuation of 20,000 people from Kempton Park Racecourse, just outside London.

2000
February 6th: A small bomb explodes at a hotel in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh. The area had been cleared beforehand due to a warning.
February 25th: The Continuity IRA attempts to bomb a British Army base in Ballykelly. There are no injuries and only slight damage, after only some of the bomb detonates.
March 16th: A bomb is left outside the offices of a dissident Sinn Fein group in Belfast. It is discovered and disarmed before it can explode.
May 19th: Belfast is disrupted and paralysed by a series of bomb warnings, some genuine and some false. Security forces manage to locate and disarm several small bombs.
April 15th: Eoin Morley, a prominent young Republican, is shot by a Provisional IRA team at his home in Newry. Morley was believed to be an informer, though this later proved to be false.
June 1st: A bomb planted by the Real IRA detonates on Hammersmith Bridge, London, shortly before dawn. Nobody is injured.
September 22nd: Real IRA volunteers fire a rocket-propelled grenade at MI6 headquarters in London. Nobody is injured but the building sustains some damage.
October 13th: A member of the Real IRA is shot dead in Belfast, probably by Provisional IRA volunteers.
October 31st: A small pipe bomb planted by the Continuity IRA explodes in Castlewellan, County Down, injuring a police officer.
December 17th: Security forces locate and disable a pipe bomb in Kilcoo, County Down, following a telephone warning.

2001
March 4th: The Real IRA use a taxi to plant a bomb near the BBC news centre in London. The area was evacuated and the bomb exploded as a robot was attempting to disarm it.
May 6th: A mail sorting office in London is bombed for the second time in a month. One person is injured.
July 11th: Orange Order and Protestant marches trigger three days of sectarian rioting in Belfast. More than 110 police are injured, 19 of them requiring hospitalisation.
July 16th: A bomb is hurled at an RUC station in Castlewellan, County Down, causing minor damage.
August 3rd: A 45-kilogram bomb assembled by the Real IRA explodes just after midnight in Ealing Broadway, London. Seven people are injured and there is significant damage to property.
October 30th: Charles Folliard, a fomer UDA member, is shot dead at his girlfriend’s home in Strabane, County Tyrone.
October 30th: Two Continuity IRA volunteers hijack a bus in Belfast and leave it outside an RUC base in Woodbourne. A small bomb left on the bus later detonates, causing minor damage but no injuries.

2002
January 21st: Two IRA gunmen enter a pub in Ardglass, County Down, searching for another man. They fire several shots into the ceiling.
April 17th: A bomb explodes on the perimeter of a police training facility in Belfast, causing minor damage.
July 24th: A bomb explodes on an estate belonging to Viscount Brookeborough, a Unionist politician. There are no injuries or damage.
October 25th: Security forces oversee a controlled explosion of a van bomb left near the Windsor Hotel in Belfast. The Continuity IRA is believed responsible.

2003
January: The Continuity IRA begins a two-month campaign of bombing, targeting seven different security buildings or infrastructure facilities in Northern Ireland. Four PSNI officers are injured during this campaign.

2005
January 31st: Robert McCartney, a Belfast Catholic and Republican, is killed by IRA members outside a pub. While McCartney’s murder was not politically motivated, his family claim the IRA protected his killers by concealing evidence.

2006
November 25th: Michael Stone, a Loyalist paramilitary volunteer, is arrested attempting to enter Stormont with a pistol and a bomb. He later admitted planning to assassinate Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

2007
March 7th: The Real IRA attempts to disrupt the elections by shooting dead two off duty British soldiers outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim. They were the first British soldiers killed in Northern Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement.
March 9th: A Police Service of Northern Ireland officer is shot dead in County Armagh. The Continuity IRA, a radical splinter group of the Provisional IRA, claims responsibility.

2009
February 11th: Catholic civilian James McConnell is shot dead in his Derry home, probably by a Republican gang of anti-drug vigilantes.

2010
February 22nd: A car bomb explodes outside a courthouse in Newry, on the border of County Armagh and County Down. It causes some property damage but no deaths or injuries.
February 24th: Real IRA volunteer Kieran Doherty is found murdered outside Derry. It is believed he was executed by his fellow volunteers, either for drug dealing or informing.
April 12th: Breakaway members of the Real IRA, calling themselves Oglaigh na hEireann, claim responsibility for a car bomb detonated outside MI5 headquarters in Holywood, County Down.
April 23rd: A car bomb is detonated outside a police station in Newtonhamilton, County Armagh, causing some property damage.
May 28th: A former Red Hand Commando paramilitary, Bobby Moffett, is gunned down and killed in Belfast, probably by UVF members.
August 3rd: A large car bomb is detonated outside a police station on Strand Road, Derry. The Real IRA splinter group Oglaigh na hEireann later claims responsibility.
October 4th: The Real IRA claims responsibility for a car bomb that explodes a bank in Derry.
November 6th: Members of the Real IRA splinter group Oglaigh na hEireann toss a grenade at a PSNI patrol on Shaw’s Road, Belfast. The explosion injures three PSNI officers.

2011
April 2nd: In Omagh, County Tyrone, Real IRA volunteers booby trap a car belonging to a Catholic PSNI officer Ronan Kerr. He is killed by the blast.
June 20th: Sectarian riots break out after Loyalists undertake provocative joyrides into Catholic areas of east Belfast. Rioting continues intermittently until mid-July, spreading across Belfast and into other areas including Derry, Newry and Portadown. More than 300 people are injured.

2012
February 9th: Suspected drug dealer Andrew Allen is shot dead in County Donegal by members of Republican Action Against Drugs.
July 12th: Orange Order marches provoke another outbreak of rioting in Belfast. Some 90 PSNI officers are injured and there is considerable damage to public and private property.
September 2nd: Loyalists attack a Republican parade in northern Belfast, triggering another three days of riots.
November 1st: A New IRA gunman shoots dead David Black, a prison officer in County Armagh, apparently in retaliation for his treatment of Republican inmates.

2013
March 30th: Catholic civilian Kieran McManus is shot dead outside his workplace in West Belfast. The Continuity IRA claimed responsibility for his murder.
July 12th: Loyalists engage in several days of rioting in Belfast and elsewhere, after a parade through Ardoyne was blocked by the PSNI. A total of 71 police officers were injured in rioting and street clashes.

2015
June 6th: Catholic civilian Paul McCauley dies in hospital. McCauley had been in a coma for nine years after being severely beaten by Loyalists in July 2006.

2016
March 4th: Prison officer Adrian Ismay dies in hospital, 11 days after being seriously wounded by a New IRA car bomb attached to his van.
August 7th: UDA volunteer John Boreland is shot dead by fellow Loyalists in North Belfast.