Belfast saw some of the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland , particularly in the 1970s , with rival paramilitary groups formed on both sides . Bombing , assassination and street violence formed a backdrop to life throughout the Troubles . The Provisional IRA detonated 22 bombs within the confines of Belfast city centre on 21 July 1972 , on what is known as " Bloody Friday " , killing nine people . Loyalist paramilitaries including the Ulster Volunteer Force ( UVF ) and the Ulster Defence Association ( UDA ) claimed that the killings they carried out were in retaliation for the IRA campaign . Most of their victims were Catholics with no links to the Provisional IRA . A particularly notorious group , based on the Shankill Road in the mid-1970s , became known as the Shankill Butchers
Bloody Friday
Bloody Friday (1972)
Belfast