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The
bombings took place in the crowded Mulberry Bush pub and The
Tavern in Birmingham, central England, on Nov. 21, 1974.
Although the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was believed to have
planted the explosives, it never claimed responsibility.
West Midlands Police said counter-terrorism officers had
arrested a 65-year-old man at his home in Belfast on Wednesday
in connection with the attacks.
"The man was arrested under the Terrorism Act and a search of
his home is being carried out," they said in a statement. "He
will be interviewed under caution at a police station in
Northern Ireland."
The bombings, in which over 180 people were also wounded, caused
the biggest loss of life on the British mainland during the 30
years of conflict between mostly Catholic nationalists, who
favored Northern Ireland’s unification with the Republic of
Ireland, and Protestants wanting to stay in the United Kingdom.
The violence, known as “The Troubles” in which some 3,600 people
died, was largely brought to an end with the 1998 Good Friday
agreement.
In one of Britain’s most notorious miscarriages of justice, six
Irish men were later wrongly convicted of the bombings and spent
16 years in jail until they were exonerated and released in
1991. One of those wrongly jailed said the police had advance
knowledge about the attack but allowed it to happen.
However, an inquest last year concluded the bombs were planted
by members of the Provisional IRA, and that a warning they gave
was inadequate. It also concluded there was no failing by the
police.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)
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