1996 Manchester bombing was an attack carried out by the Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) on Saturday 15 June 1996 . The IRA detonated a Lorry bomb on Corporation Street in the centre of Manchester , England . The biggest bomb detonated in Great Britain since World War II , it targeted the city 's infrastructure and economy and caused devastating damage , estimated by insurers at £ 700 million ( equivalent to £ in ) – only surpassed by the 2001 September 11 attacks and the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing in terms of financial cost
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
1996 Manchester bombing