An interdenominational church service will be held in the centre of Claudy, Co Derry, on Sunday afternoon to mark the 25th anniversary of the bombings which killed nine people and injured several others in the village.
Three bombs exploded in Claudy on the morning of July 31st, 1972, killing nine people ranging in ages from eight to 65. Of the dead, five were Catholics and four were Protestants, reflecting the village's religious make-up. No organisation admitted responsibility, and the IRA denies it planted the bombs. It has, however, generally been blamed for the attack. Mr Ivan Cooper, then the local SDLP representative, said he was in no doubt that the IRA was responsible.
It is believed that the IRA members suspected of planting the bombs tried to telephone a warning from Dungiven, about 10 miles away, but that an earlier IRA bomb which had damaged the local exchange prevented them getting through.
Mr Cooper told reporters at the time: "I have spoken to people in Dungiven, 10 miles away, and from my investigations I have found that three young men told people of the Claudy bombs minutes before the first bomb went off. I am in a position to state that the IRA should not be issuing a statement of denial."
Six people died in the first bomb, outside McElhinney's pub. The youngest, Kathryn Eakin, aged eight, had been cleaning the windows of her father's shop.
Those who also died as a result of the first blast were Joe McCloskey, Elizabeth McElhinney, Rose McLaughlin, Patrick Connolly and Arthur Hone. The second explosion claimed the remaining three fatalities, David Miller, William Temple and Jim McClelland.
Mr Billy Eakin, father of Kathryn, said the bombing devastated his family and the town. "It took away a lot of our hope for the future, and quite honestly it left us shattered," he said. Mr Eakin said the hurt for him and his family, and all the other bereaved, was still strong. But he hoped that the IRA ceasefire would lead to a permanent peace.
Mr William Houston said that despite the bombing, inter-community relations were good in the village. Some radio and television stations yesterday marked the anniversary of the bombing by playing a ballad by the poet James Simmons which told of how "the small town of Claudy at ease in the sun" was shattered by the bombings.
