The IRA continued to intensify their campaign . On 29 August 1979 the IRA carried out two separate attacks in North and South of Ireland that shocked the world and gave huge media coverage to their campaign . The first was the killing of Lord Mountbatten and his grandson when the boat they were on off the Sligo coast was blown up by a remote controlled bomb , killing Mounbatten instantly . The second was the Warrenpoint Ambush where the IRA killed 18 British soldiers in a double bomb attack , the highest loss of life for the British Army during the Troubles . The IRA would carry out several of these type of large attacks against the British forces throughout the 1980s like the 1983 Ballygawley Land Mine Attack which killed four soldiers , the 1988 Lisburn van bombing which killed six soldiers and the Ballygawley bus bombing also carried out in 1988 which killed eight soldiers and injured 28
Ballygawley bus bombing
Ballygawley bus bombing
1979 Bessbrook bombing