The IRA continued its armed campaign during the seven months of the strike , killing 13 policemen , 13 soldiers , including five members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and five civilians . The seven months were one of the bloodiest periods of the Troubles with a total of 61 people killed , 34 of them civilians . Three years later the IRA tried to take their revenge on Thatcher with the Brighton hotel bombing , an attack on the Conservative party conference that killed five people and in which Thatcher herself only narrowly escaped death
Brighton hotel bombing
Brighton hotel bombing
1981 Irish hunger strike