On 13 September 1972, UDA members opened fire inside the Catholic-owned Divis Castle Bar on Springfield Road, Belfast.

[3] On the evening of Tuesday 31 October 1972 in Sailortown (a mixed Protestant and Catholic community beside Belfast Docks), a large group of local children in fancy dress were playing outside their houses near a bonfire in Ship Street to celebrate Halloween.

[5] The girls were in the vicinity of the Catholic-owned pub, which was full of patrons, when a maroon-coloured mini containing a 100 pounds (45 kg) bomb exploded outside the building's Ship Street wall where it had been parked.

The Strong family, who lived on the adjacent Marine Street felt the effects of the blast; Paula's brother, Tony said that there was a massive explosion, the entire house shook and pictures fell off the walls.

Their home was in Ship Street, facing the bonfire, and their mother immediately rushed to the scene and brought gravely wounded Clare into the house.

[3] The funerals of Paula Strong and Clare Hughes were conducted at the Roman Catholic St Joseph's Chapel in Sailortown; many mourners lined the street and accompanied the coffins as they were carried inside the church.

The bombing had been carried out by a unit of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), which was the largest loyalist paramilitary organisation in Northern Ireland and which was legal at the time.

There is a memorial plaque on an outside wall beneath a stained glass window at St Joseph's Chapel commemorating Paula Strong and Clare Hughes.