Although Manchester had been targeted by the IRA before , it had not been subjected to an attack on this scale . In February 1996 , the IRA had ended its seventeen-month ceasefire with a large truck bomb attack on London 's Canary Wharf financial district , though the 3,300-pound bomb of Manchester was three times the size of the Canary Wharf bomb . The Manchester bombing was condemned by the British and Irish governments and U.S. President Bill Clinton . Five days after the blast , the IRA issued a statement from Dublin in which it claimed responsibility , but regretted causing injury to civilians
truck bomb attack on London 's Canary Wharf
1996 Docklands bombing
1996 Manchester bombing