Talk:List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain

List rationale
What's the rationale for inclusion in the list of 'Terrorist-like incidents that were not designated as terrorism'? At first glance, it seems just to be what act someone was charged under -- e.g. David Copeland being charged with murder. By this rationale, most of the 'ricin plot' wasn't dealt with as terrorism either, since the bulk of the charges involved conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit a public nuisance or were brought under section one of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (producing a chemical weapon).

I think the culprits, if arrested for the incidents were or would have been held under the terms of the 'prevention of terrorism' act. Gomez2002 (talk) 13:59, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Nor, indeed, would it appear that the men accused of involvement in the failed 21 July 2005 bombings have been charged with any terrorist offences. It's all attempted murder and so forth. Shouldn't they be moved to this list, too? SteveGlynn 15:02, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Should the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 be considered for inclusion in this page? It appears to meet the criteria for an attempt, even if the persons concerned were charged with treason.  If they were charged now, presumably they would've been charged under terrorism legislation.  Comments would be appreciated.  Andrew, 13:05, 21 December 2006. unsigned by User:213.86.224.6
 * I think it's terrorism; lawyers brought it up during the debate on the terrorism act because celebrating it could be construed as committing the new offence of "glorifying terrorism".86.6.12.103 09:22, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * What is the criteria for this list?--Vintagekits 00:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I think it's an obvious attempt to draw together the facts available on wikipedia relating to what we are told by the authorities Eliza Manningham-Buller about the current terror situation. The categorization of the incidents is according to what the authorities have said about them to the public; so if they are inconsistent about how they define an act of terrorism, the list is going to look inconsistent.  So far there has never been a decade with fewer terrorist attacks than this one, while at the same time there has never been so much legislative action on the matter.  One explanation given is that all this political and police activity is responsible for the lack of terrorist successes.  The facts -- the list of arrests and so forth -- speak for themselves.  86.6.12.103 09:22, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * No they dont speak for themselves - until a clear criteria is given then this is just a random list - which is something wiki doesnt do, unless a clear criteria and rationale is given I shall start cleaning up the superfluous from this "list" - regards--Vintagekits 12:56, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Still no answer.--Vintagekits 15:41, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Perhaps it might be better to obtain consensus before starting to "clean up the superfluous". Otherwise you risk losing valuable information because of poor categorisation. Ms medusa 16:32, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Well I have been trying to get something concrete for near four months now. So if nothing is made concrete soon then I am going to start itmyself.--Vintagekits 16:45, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Still no rationale provided.--Vintagekits 14:49, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Its a list of terrorist incidents in the UK, what is so difficult about that? ( Hypnosadist )  16:59, 29 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Well give me a definition of terrorist or terrorism for starters. This isnt The Sun this is wiki!--Vintagekits 16:35, 30 June 2007 (UTC)


 * remove indent - after nearly a year of asking there is still no rationale given which outs the criteria for this list.--Vintagekits (talk) 22:53, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Potential for arrest under 'the prevention of terrorism act' or other UK anti-terror legislation. Obviously there would have to have been an actual incident, arrested at port with explosives or ownership of manual would not suffice Incidentally all the IRA incidents would be automatically included, since the IRA was a proscribed organisation in the UK when they were committed. Gomez2002 (talk) 14:06, 17 December 2008 (UTC).

Merge with Terrorism in the UK
The other page is wider in scope, but less comprehensive. A merger would improvw wikipedia's coverage Ms medusa 20:36, 15 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I think both articles are needed as they are. An article discussing terrorism and surrounding issues with a prominant link to a simple list of terrorist events and related articles (biogs of british terrorists could be useful). Also i think this list should be inclusivist of what is terrorism, so with multiple notable sources not just the british government decide what is terroism. Hypnosadist 21:12, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

It is more encyclopedic to merge this with the other, making it a major heding in the other article, so i agree with the merge. Aaliyah Stevens 15:07, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Oppose. This list is far too extensive to be merged into a prose article. Vashti 21:14, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Same reason as above. --Breadandcheese 16:31, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Oppose Agree with Vashti. What is more is is a very short list at the moment (See POV below) --Philip Baird Shearer 10:36, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

POV
This list is not a neutral point of view list because it does not include attacks that took place in Northern Ireland (which is part of the UK!). As there were literally 1000's if incidents in Northern Ireland (often many in one day), I do not see how this can be a comprehensive list. It would be better if this list was renamed List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain. --Philip Baird Shearer 10:36, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Lots of incidents could be extracted from this article Chronology of Provisional IRA actions. But as it is only one side of the troubles the list will still be unbalanced. --Philip Baird Shearer 10:19, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I have found a source that claims that between 1968 1992 10,000 explosions in Northern Ireland alone, and that does not include the shooting incidents which were probably even more frequent. --Philip Baird Shearer 09:13, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

What about events in Southern Ireland between the Act of Union 1800 and 1922? Do they count as terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom? --Philip Baird Shearer 12:50, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

That was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the United Kingom which is the subject of this article, one would imagine, is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is a completely different country. So no, they wouldn't count. The title of this article is completely misleading. It should be called terrorist incidents in England. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.134.222.120 (talk) 01:23, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Are there really no terror incidents in the UK between 1940 and the 1970s ? What about May 3 1948 – A Lehi book bomb posted to the parental home of British Major Roy Farran was opened by his brother Rex, killing him. Roy Farran was court-martialed on a charge of murdering an unarmed 16-year-old member of Lehi during his command of an undercover Palestine Police unit.[29] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.11.163.59 (talk) 16:29, 5 April 2024 (UTC)

31 October 1971
I've changed this to what the source says, which is ambiguous but so is the source. I've never seen a source that says the Provisionals themselves bombed England prior to the 1973 bombings, which are generally recognised as the first. This says "Although a claim of responsibility was made by the ‘‘Kilburn Battalion of the IRA,’’ this incident is not usually considered to be part of a coordinated IRA campaign. The bomber (or bombers) was never formally identified". One Night In Hackney 303  11:31, 12 October 2007 (UTC)


 * It's without a doubt the Angry Brigade who carried out this attack. The IRA did operate in England until 1973. Also there is no such thing as the IRA "Kilburn Battalion". Reminds of the so called "San Diego IRA" when someone planted hoax bombs all over SD with notes attached saying "Give Gerry Adams a visa or else." https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/nancy-soderberg-oral-history-foreign-policy-director   20:59 18 September 2018 (UTC)  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.107.159.76 (talk)

"Genuine terrorist attacks" versus "Terrorist-like incidents"
The section of "Terrorist-like incidents" was somewhat wrongheaded. It included Copeland, even though he was described as a terrorist at the time (and this was before the Terroris Act, so that he wasn't charged under it is irrelevant). I've moved Copeland to the section on "Genuine terrorist attacks" and Lecomber to the section on failed attacks (where they belong at least as much as the Fenians and Fawkes, who lived and died before the term "terrorist" was coined). I've left the other two incidents under that heading, but made it a sub-section of "Arrests, detentions, and other terrorist related incidents", which lists cases prosecuted under the Terrorism Act, as both of those refer to recent cases of apparent terrorism where the Terrorism Act wasn't used. I think the section was meant to imply that the authorities don't class far-right terrorist incidents as terrorism, which is perhaps not entirely inaccurate, but neither that point nor this article is served by seperating these incidents out. 172.216.184.42 14:43, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Original research
This article seems full of it. For example who says anything in the "1800-1899" section was a terrorist incident? Editor's opinion possibly - that's OR. Same applies to various other inclusions, and in particular the "Terrorist-like incidents that were not designated as terrorism" section, which seems to be a catch-all to include anything you feel like. I've no real idea about how to fix this article at present, so I'm tagging it and hoping a discussion can take place. One Night In Hackney 303  23:49, 11 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Considering incidents such as this are being added without attribution (ie, who said this was a "terrorist incident"), I'm on the verge of tagging every single unattributed incident as needing attribution. One Night In Hackney  303  22:20, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Title of Article
Since, it seems, terrorist incidents in Northern Ireland are excluded from the list, surely the title of the article should be "List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain". Though to be honest it strikes me that the whole article is misconceived; POV is unavoidable, and use of a characterisation by the "authorities" reflects a further POV dimension, quite apart from the editors' choices/judgments. diran 02:20, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

I tend to agree with this. There is no reference to any terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland in this article, so it can hardly be described as a list of terrorist incidents in the UK. It needs to either include Northern Irish terrorist incidents or be renamed as suggested above.

IrishPete (talk) 21:43, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

I agree. I'm going to be bold and move the article. I Hope no one objects! Meaty♠Weenies (talk) 13:20, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

Animal Rights Terrorism
Nothing appears to have been written about animal rights terrorism, which does take place - particularly in Oxford. I don't have access to any sources right now, but I feel it should be mentioned for completeness. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.137.151.102 (talk) 01:28, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

I think they would be fine to add. Gomez2002 (talk) 14:10, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Rhetorical question
Why doesn't anyone ever write an article like "List of terrorist incidents in the USSR under Stalin"? (I said it was a rhetorical question).Aaaronsmith (talk) 04:09, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Re: You need good & reliable sources to create it. I suppose why not create an article of "US terrorist incidents against Cuba" also? 20:37, 18 September 2018 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.107.159.76 (talk)

Note on recent edit, in re Birmingham
As I saw the headers on top of the page, I wanted to drop a line to note that I just removed bit about the IRA being responsible for the Birmingham bombings. While that was obviously the popular opinion at the time and a seemingly reasonable conclusion given the Guildhall bombings four months earlier, the subsequent events of the Birmingham Six and the fact that that IRA has never admitted to this (where they've admitted to a lot of other bombings, "taking credit" as it were) led me to remove it. Cheers  ocee  Conas tá tú? 21:05, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Note on recent edit, re Stephen Clarke
The entry on Stephen Clarke read that he had been "charged under section 40" and then "released without charge". This is patent nonsense. He was, in fact, not charged under anything, but arrested under section 41. This is important because of its implications for habeas corpus. Please don't change it back again to such a blatant state of inner contradiction, and if you want to publish to the world that someone was charged as a terrorist make sure you get your evidence straight first. Thanks. Anyone in doubt can simply watch the news video in the footnote. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.47.13.17 (talk) 13:39, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Tower of London
Even assuming it's only England, the Tower of London bombing in '74 seems to be missing. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.223.69.225 (talk) 14:49, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Where is the Hindawi affair
How come the Hindawi affair is not listed? That was in 1986 foiled plot by the Syrian Baath Party to where a Jordian man Nezar Hindawi gave his Irish girlfriend a suit case with a bomb on it to blow a plane heading to Tel Aviv but the bomb was found before it went on the plane and he was jailed for 45 years for it. That could of killed more people than Lockerbie had it succeeded. In court it the judge said called it terrorism "Put briefly, this was about as foul and as horrible a crime as could possibly be imagined. It is no thanks to this applicant that his plot did not succeed in destroying 360 or 370 lives in the effort to promote one side of a political dispute by terrorism. In the judgment of this Court the sentence of 45 years' imprisonment was not a day too long. This application is refused."[ 80.41.195.100 (talk) 00:26, 9 December 2015 (UTC) Higgins, Rosalyn; Flory, Maurice (1997). Terrorism and International Law. Routledge. pp. 336–337. 80.41.195.100 (talk) 00:26, 9 December 2015 (UTC) Niall

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Complete lack of modern Irish Republican and Unionist actions.
As others have mentioned this list entirely misses most acts in northern ireland. I will add these some point these week, perhaps tabulating the attacks.

Liberty Store London pipe bomb summer 1989
There was a bomb blast that blew the window out of the Liberty store book shop in 1989. The bombers thought it stocked the Satanic Verses. Two people were seriously injured, I know I did the first aid on them. I have tried to get the photo from the Evening Standard(with no luck) which shows me kneeling down attending to one of the victims. If any body knows the date. I will try E.S again. I live in New Zealand so it has been difficult. my email is michael.whale@gmail.com

RfC: terrorist incidents list criteria
You are invited to join the discussion at Talk:List of terrorist incidents. – Levivich 18:03, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Wikipedia policy compliance?
Is this article exempt from the normal Wikipedia policies such as WP:VER, WP:NPOV, WP:OR, WP:BRD, etc.? The reason I ask is because of this edit. That entry cannot be verified, does not use neutral wording and is a personal and inaccurate interpretation of events. I tried to remove it, suggesting the use of the talkpage to discuss it, but was reverted without explanation. I now propose removing it again. -- DeFacto (talk). 07:09, 23 June 2020 (UTC)


 * The Guardian would suggest this incident being terrorism is clearly not an established fact. FDW777 (talk) 07:19, 23 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Removed. FDW777 (talk) 10:24, 25 June 2020 (UTC)+


 * Removed. Again. I suggest reads the Guardian article I linked to, stops edit warring and seeks consensus for the addition. FDW777 (talk) 16:09, 26 June 2020 (UTC)


 * There is a similar discussion at Talk:List of terrorist incidents in June 2020 for anyone interested. -- DeFacto (talk). 16:13, 26 June 2020 (UTC)

Rfc consensus was clear
A centralised discussion was advertised above at. The archived Rfc can be seen at Talk:List of terrorist incidents/Archive 2. The Rfc's question is Should the WP:LISTCRITERIA for all "List of terrorist incidents in ..." lists be:. There can be no reasonable dispute it applies to this article. FDW777 (talk) 13:44, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * See talk:List of terrorist incidents in London. It is not agreed that it is the case that that criteria applies to location articles. It is wrong to have to delete dozens of perfectly valid entries on this list just because you've decided that the criteria apply to location articles. You need to gain consensus first. Delayed Laugh (talk) 14:02, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Wrong. There was a Rfc, it was advertised on this talk page, the Rfc question was specifically phrased as applying to all "List of terrorist incidents in ...". The idea that I need to gain consensus first is emphatically incorrect. FDW777 (talk) 14:55, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * No, you are the one who is wrong. It says applying to all “list of terrorist incidents in...” articles meaning year-based lists, as in list of terrorist incidents in 2020 or list of terrorist incidents in 2001. It’s not List of terrorist incidents in Saudi Arabia or List of terrorist incidents in France is it. Why are you so determined to remove most of the IRA attacks on this article? Delayed Laugh (talk) 16:02, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * It didn't say anything about only applying to years at all. It specifically says "List of terrorist incidents in ...". What is the title of this page? List of terrorist incidents in Great Britain. FDW777 (talk) 16:04, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * It doesn’t say anything about applying to location-based lists either you plonker, that’s just your own interpretation. Please see the discussion at List of terrorist incidents in London for clarification. Delayed Laugh (talk) 16:27, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * And where does it say anything about only applying to years? I've seen the discussion there, you might want to read the post by the person that started the Rfc. Or will you ignore that because it proves you completely wrong? FDW777 (talk) 16:30, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Why is it that when a much more senior editor than you disagrees with your interpretation, you claim that there are no objections to your plan of action and that there can be no disagreement with that interpretation? Delayed Laugh (talk) 16:49, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * They can disagree as much as they like, it doesn't change the fact that the Rfc question was Should the WP:LISTCRITERIA for all "List of terrorist incidents in ..." lists be:. I've put the important word in bold for you, it's a short, unambiguous word with only one syllable. But just to be sure, it means "every single page beginning with "List of terrorist incidents in..." was covered by the Rfc. FDW777 (talk) 16:53, 3 December 2020 (UTC)

Unsurprisingly and  are confirmed sockuppets of Gordimalo (that's AmSam 13). FDW777 (talk) 17:01, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
 * This has been a point of confusion (and I've posted my views on what I think we should do elsewhere). It is apparent that the RfC criteria are not being followed on numerous articles about incidents in specific geographical areas. Whatever happened at that RfC, whatever its merits, I think we have to conclude that consensus does not currently exist to apply those criteria to the geographical lists. If,, you want change, I think it will require a new RfC and effort being made to engage with editors working on the various geographical articles. Bondegezou (talk) 16:33, 16 November 2021 (UTC)


 * That other articles may attract edits against consensus does not change the consensus. There was a Rfc, and it applies to the child articles and it was specifically advertised here. Consensus does not require unanimity, and there appears to be nobody, sockpuppets excepted, that agrees with the inclusion here. FDW777 (talk) 15:08, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Consensus changes, as per WP:CONSENSUS. I think we are all agreed with the RfC's second criterion, The consensus of WP:RSes describe the incident as "terrorism", but it seems to me that there is not consensus, or no longer consensus, that The incident is notable (has a stand-alone article) applies to these geographical region articles. Bondegezou (talk) 15:29, 9 February 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 March 2021
1992, 1 March: An IRA bomb was diffused by police at White Hart Lane train station in London.

Note that bombs are 'defused' not diffused 81.155.104.212 (talk) 10:08, 26 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Good catch, all set. Thanks. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 11:26, 26 March 2021 (UTC)

Continuity IRA
There's a lot in Timeline of Continuity IRA actions that isn't included here. Bondegezou (talk) 16:27, 16 November 2021 (UTC)

Basic geography
Belfast is not, and has never been part of Great Britain. Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales. It does not include Northern Ireland (where Belfast is), which is part of the United Kingdom. Or to use the full name (which makes things even more obvious, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. See the word "and"? Doesn't that clear things up enough? Kathleen&#39;s bike (talk) 13:48, 19 May 2023 (UTC)