The attack was a no-warning bombing When the UVF decided to strike the bar was packed with many elderly people in the bar . A white car stopped right outside the bar door and UVF members threw the bomb in . Right after the bomb had been thrown in a burst of shots was directed inside the pub , probably to deter anbody from trying to escape and the explosion came just seconds after the shots of gunfire . People trying to rescue others were hindered when a wall fell down and several more people were injured . Some of the 50 or so injured were badly mutilated with some losing legs and arms . Witness say they saw the white car speed off in to the direction of Loyalist East Belfast . In the confusion a man shot and badly injured as he drove slowly past the bombed pub . After this attack the IRA leadership in Dublin gave their units in Belfast the permission to retaliate to attacks of this nature . The people killed in the attack were Mary McAleavey ( 57 ) , Elizabeth Carson ( 64 ) , Marie Bennett ( 42 ) , Agnes McAnoy ( 62 ) , Arthur Penn ( 33 ) and Michael Mulligan ( 33 ) As the same as the gun & bomb attack a member of the Official IRA was killed by the Irish National Liberation Army along The Falls Road in Belfast bringing the number of dead to seven for the day . This killing was part of an on-going feud between the INLA & OIRA . The Loyalist paramilitary on-slaught against the Nationalist & Catholic community continued at an ever growing pace & became more brutal as time went on . Republicans retaliated with attacks on Protestant civilians Tensions were high as the North seemed liked it was braced for an onslaught from both sides . Some of the worst attacks happened that summer and autumn like the UVF McGleenan 's Bar bombing which killed three , one of the most shocking attacks of the whole war again by the UVF - the Miami Showband killings which killed another 3 civilians , the Bayardo Bar attack by the PIRA which people believe was in response to the Miami attacks , the Tullyvallen Orange Hall massacre by the IRA which killed 5 people , the Belfast and Coleraine attacks , 1975 by the UVF which killed 12 ( 8 of whom were civilians ) , the Drummuckavall Ambush were the IRA killed 3 British soldiers in an ambush and the Donnelly 's Bar and Kay 's Tavern attacks which killed 5 and injured 26 carried out by the UVF with help from the UDR
Miami Showband killings
Miami Showband killings
Strand Bar bombing