In the late 1980s and early 1990s , loyalist paramilitaries stepped up their killings of Catholics . In response , the IRA in Belfast tried to assassinate loyalist leaders . It wanted to avoid retaliatory sectarian attacks against Protestant civilians like those that took place in the 1970s . In one effort to wipe out the leadership of the UDA in 1993 , however , it committed one of the worst atrocities of the IRA campaign . Two Belfast Brigade volunteers from Ardoyne bombed a fish shop in the Shankill Road where the UDA 's leadership had arranged to meet . However , the bomb exploded prematurely and killed one of the bombers , Thomas Begley , one UDA member and eight Protestant civilians . In addition , 58 people were wounded . The intended targets were not in the building
bombed a fish shop in the Shankill Road
Shankill Road bombing
Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade