Although nobody claimed responsibility for the attack , the Provisional IRA was immediately and widely blamed . In his book '' Loyalists '' , Peter Taylor explained that the Provisional IRA bombed Balmoral in retaliation for the McGurk 's Bar bombing one week earlier , which had killed 15 Catholic civilians . This theory is supported by Susan McKay . Billy McQuiston , along with many other Protestant men who had been on the Shankill at the time of the explosion , immediately joined the Ulster Defence Association ( UDA ) . Others included Sammy Duddy , Michael Stone , and Tommy Lyttle . Lyttle , who became brigadier of the UDA West Belfast Brigade , was not there but his wife and two daughters were near the bomb when it went off . They received no injuries , but his daughter Linda said that Lyttle " took it personally " . Jackie McDonald , the incumbent South Belfast UDA brigadier , worked as dispatches manager for the Balmoral Furniture Company . The leader of the Ulster Freedom Fighters ( UFF , the name the UDA used to claim attacks ) , John White , who was convicted of the double murder of Senator Paddy Wilson and Irene Andrews in 1973 , used the Balmoral bombing as justification for these killings and others
McGurk 's Bar bombing
McGurk's Bar bombing
1971 Balmoral Furniture Company bombing