Ulster had its Bloody Sunday —Jan. 30 of this year, when 13 Catholics were killed by British paratroopers in Londonderry's Bogside (TIME, Feb. 14). Last week, at the British army's 16th Parachute Brigade headquarters in Aldershot, 40 miles south of London, an event occurred that could go down in history as Bloody Tuesday. Just before lunchtime, a Ford Cortina containing 280 Ibs. of gelignite exploded beside the unguarded officers' mess. The blast tore through the concrete-slab building, injuring 19 and killing seven—five women, a civilian gardener and a Catholic chaplain who had been decorated for his attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland.
The Marxist Official wing of the Irish Republican Army took credit for the attack. While calling it a "successful retaliatory operation," the communique from leaders of the Officials also said: "Any civilian casualties would be very much regretted as our target was the officers responsible for the Derry outrages." Not since World War II, when the I.R.A. planted a number of bombs in railroad stations, post offices, shops and cinemas, had the gunmen's terror campaign brought death to Britain itself.
Cowardly Act. Even though the I.R.A. boasted that the Aldershot bombers had escaped to safety in Ireland, British police searched the homes of hundreds of Irish nationals living in England and held scores of Irishmen for questioning. Apart from the terrorists, almost everyone appeared to have been shocked by the latest wanton killing of civilians. Even Irish Catholic M.P. Bernadette Devlin, who a few weeks ago angrily stated that she "would not shed a single tear" for any British soldiers killed in revenge, admitted that the act of retaliation had gone "horrifically wrong." In Dublin, Irish Republican Prime Minister John Lynch "unreservedly" condemned "this cowardly and senseless act."
New Dimensions. Lynch's government arrested five top Official I.R.A. leaders in Dublin, including Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding. More were jailed following raids on the ramshackle offices of Sinn Fein (Ourselves Alone), the I.R.A.'s legal political front, and on homes in Dublin and Cork. Although Sinn Fein charged that Lynch was yielding to Westminster pressure in his tough anti-I.R.A. policy, his crackdown was intended to prevent a possible spread of violence to the Republic.
Bloody Tuesday stiffened Parliament's resolve not to cave in to the terrorists. By a coincidence of the judicial calendar, the Northern Ireland High Court last week found against the British Army on a fine legal point concerning its security role in Ulster. On the same day, the Heath government rushed through a bill retroactively legitimizing everything the Army had done as keeper of the Ulster non-peace; the only dissenting voice was that of Bernadette Devlin.