The Provisional IRA ended its 1994 ceasefire on 9 February 1996 , when a massive truck bomb went off in the London Docklands area , resulting in two deaths and causing huge damage , especially around the South Quay railway station . The IRA strategy was to pressure the British government by bombing England , but without rejecting the peace process and without returning to full-scale operations . At first , there were no prospects of resuming the campaign in Northern Ireland , to defuse potential all-out sectarian violence . However , a series of successful police raids in England lead a decision by the IRA to restart its operations in Northern Ireland
massive truck bomb went off
1996 Docklands bombing
Thiepval barracks bombing