They ended the truce by detonating a truck bomb at Canary Wharf in London, which caused serious damage to property and, despite advance warning from the IRA, the deaths of two civilians.

The van had been modified by a former British Army engineer, Michael Dickson, who built the launch platform and aimed the tubes towards the barracks.

[6] Two of the bombs fell short of the perimeter fence and failed to explode, but the third went off 20 yards (18.3 mt) inside the base, leaving a crater near a petrol pump.

[10] An explosive charge was left in the vehicle with the intention of destroying forensic evidence, but the intact van's plates allowed it to be traced to Yorkshire.

[9] The IRA unit was composed of five members, two of them women, who had rented a holiday home in northern Germany where they built the mortar launchers.

[5] John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said that the assault showed how the IRA and Sinn Féin were isolating themselves from the peace process.