Belfast bombing victims to sue government over conspiracy

A soldier stands guard over the shattered remains of McGurk's bar in North Queen Street, Belfast in 1971.

Victims of the deadliest Belfast bombing during the Troubles are to take legal action accusing the state of conspiracy to murder.

The loyalist McGurk's Bar was attacked in December 1971, 15 civilians were killed and 17 injured, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during the conflict.

Aftermath of the bomb blast at McGurk's Bar. Credit: PA Wire

The bombing was carried out by the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), but had initially been presented by the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) as an accidental "own goal" by the IRA, prompting speculation that the dead might have included republicans who were carrying the device.That assertion has long been challenged by bereaved relatives campaigning to clear the names of their loved ones.

Children remove a baby's cot from the debris of McGurk's Bar. Credit: PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images

McGurk's led to a series of tit-for-tat bombings and shootings by loyalists and republicans that helped make 1972 the bloodiest year of the conflict for sectarian violence between Protestants and Catholics.Families are due at a Belfast court on Thursday as part of a protracted legal battle surrounding police investigations into the killings in the New Lodge area of the city centre.

An investigation by the body that handles complaints against the police - the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland - found the RUC had exhibited an investigative bias by blaming the loyalist attack on republicans.

Mr Winters said new evidence uncovered by researchers at the National Archives revealed links between the McGurk's Bar bombing and similar incidents including the The Kelly's Bar attack on May 13 1972 in which one man was killed and 66 civilians were injured.