Republican News · Thursday 25 October 2001

IRA blow up general

THE Commandant General of the especially hated British troops, the Royal Marine Commandos, was critically injured in an IRA booby-trap bomb blast near his London home, last Saturday, 17 October.

Lieutenatnt General Sir Struart Pringle, aged 53, was injured when the IRA bomb exploded seconds after he drove off his car from his home: number 76, South Croxted Road, Dulwich, London.

Coincidentally, the general's address is given just two entries above that of northern Direct Ruler Jim Prior, in Who's Who, which contains a wealth of useful information about British establishment figures, including - in accordance with the British Army's normal inefficient level of security - other addresses of leading military men, as does the London telephone directory.

Last Saturday's ambush marked another bold blow in the IRA's campaign in England, and was especially well received and highly applauded in nationalist West Belfast, where the people have suffered the intimidation, harassment and brutality of the Marine Commandos for the last four months.

The blast, at 11.30am, badly damaged the general's red Volkswagen Passat car, ripping off the roof and blowing the bonnet and part of the engine across the road. The devastated car careered into the side of a stationary car in the (previously) quiet residential area.

The general lost a leg in the explosion and suffered other serious injuries. A dog, his only companion in the car, was completely unscathed, and was to become adored by the British media.

The general lay trapped, but conscious, in the car for three-quarters of an hour before being cut free from the wreckage and subsequently underwent a three-hour operation, after which his condition was said to be stable.

The car bomb was the second IRA bomb attack against a military target in London on successive Saturday mornings - a coach load of soldiers outside Chelsea Barracks was the previous target, blasted by a van bomb.

Tory Defence Minister John Nott visited the wounded general to reassure him that his post would remain vacant until his recovery. The Lieutenant-General's post as Commandant General of the Royal Marines is the most senior rank in this division of the British Armed Forces, which is, in fact attached to the Navy.

Phoblacht, Thursday 22 October, 1981