Edward O'Brien (18 September 1974 – 18 February 1996) was a

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA)

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

. He died in the

Aldwych bus bombing The Aldwych bus bombing occurred on 18 February 1996 in Aldwych, central London, England. Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer Edward O'Brien was carrying a bomb on a bus when it detonated prematurely, killing him and injuring eigh ...

when the bomb he was carrying exploded prematurely.

Background

O'Brien grew up in Gorey,

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí C ...

, with his parents and two siblings. As a child he attended the local national and secondary schools. A keen sportsman, he was a member of St Enda's GAA Club where he played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

and also played for Gorey Rangers

soccer club In Association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

. He also was regarded as a talented boxer, and worked in a bakery.''Tírghrá'', National Commemoration Centre, 2002, paperback); p. 361;

Active service

O'Brien joined the IRA in 1992. He went to England to engage in paramilitary activity in an

active service unit An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units. T ...

. Documents later recovered from O'Brien's residence indicated he was working for the IRA in Britain as early as August 1994, collecting information on targets, and assembling bomb-making equipment during a seventeen-month ceasefire.Bennetto, J
Dead IRA man 'had hit-list' of bomb targets.
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', 17 April 1996. O'Brien may have been responsible for planting a bomb in a London telephone box on 15 February 1996 that was later deactivated by the police.

Death

O'Brien was killed on 18 February 1996, when an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mecha ...

he was carrying detonated prematurely on a number 171 bus in

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

, in the West End of

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. The 2 kg (4 lb)

semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, originally under the name B ...

bomb detonated as he sat near the door of the bus. A

pathologist Pathology is the study of the causes and effects of disease or injury. The word ''pathology'' also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in th ...

found O'Brien was killed "virtually instantaneously" from "massive injuries", and it also caused injuries to numerous passengers, passers-by and the driver. O’Brien was the first IRA volunteer to be killed following the Docklands bombing nine days earlier that signalled the end of the "cessation of military operations" ordered by the IRA leadership in 1994. A subsequent police search of his London address discovered 15 kg (30 lb) of

, 20 timers, four detonators, and ammunition for a 9 mm

Walther Walther is a masculine given name and a surname. It is a German form of Walter, which is derived from the Old High German ''Walthari'', containing the elements ''wald'' -"power", "brightness" or "forest" and ''hari'' -"warrior". The name was fi ...

revolver, along with an

incendiary device Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, ...

. The Walther pistol was discovered on him after his death.''Lost Lives'', O'Brien is buried in St Michael's Cemetery in his home town of Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Edward 1974 births 1996 deaths Deaths by improvised explosive device in England Irish expatriates in England People from Gorey Provisional Irish Republican Army members