“The sorrow, grief and loss inflicted on all those who lost loved ones in the IRA’s Shankill bomb must be acknowledged with humility and regret,” Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has said.
Martin McGuinness.
The Sinn Fein leader’s comments came as hundreds of people attended a memorial service held earlier today at the exact time the bomb exploded in Frizzell’s fish shop 20 years ago.
Nine civilians and the IRA bomber, Thomas Begley, died in the explosion. A memorial plaque unveiled in his memory in Belfast at the weekend was widely criticised.
Unveiling the memorial, the second bomber, Sean Kelly, publicly apologised for the lost of life and for the injuries caused to innocent civilians.
During the this morning’s service in memory of the nine innocent victims – two of whom were children aged seven and 13 – shops on the Shankill Road pulled down their shutters as a mark of respect and part of the road has been closed.
At the exact time the bomb went off 20 years ago, pupils from the Harmony Primary School and the Girls Model laid flowers at a nearby memorial and at the actual bomb site further up the road.
The attack took place on a busy Saturday afternoon in October in the heart of one of Belfast’s best known loyalist areas.
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