A WOMAN returning home from buying a pint of milk was one of two civilians killed by an IRA bomb intended for a British Army patrol in west Belfast, 30 years ago this week.
Elizabeth Hamill (60) from Clonard Rise was walking close to the Falls Baths when the device exploded prematurely on July 7 1988.
Eamon Gilroy (24) also lost his life in the blast, while an army bomb disposal expert died in a follow-up operation when a second device detonated on the Falls Road.
It was reported at the time that the device may have been intended for the police and army and was triggered by a command wire. A nine-man British Army foot-patrol were passing the swimming pool at the time, but none of them were injured.
Earlier a number of men had gone into the pool and ordered staff and members of the public out of the building shortly before the bomb exploded.
Speaking at the time of the bombing, Ms Hamill's sister Josephine Graham told the Irish News of how her sibling had gone out for a pint of milk when she was caught up in the blast.
She suffered serious injuries and died a few hours later in hospital.
"It was just after tea-time when two girls rapped my door. They said 'missus, have you got a sister who lives in Clonard Rise? She's got leg injuries and is in hospital'," said Ms Graham.
"I couldn't believe it and got a taxi straight to the City Hospital about two minutes later, but she's been taken to the Royal and when I got there the doctors didn't even know her name.
"They were working on her but I think they knew she was dying.
"It's just a terrible tragedy. She was still carrying the milk when it happened."
Mr Gilroy of Ladymar, Grosvenor Road was the oldest son in a family of four boys. His father Eamon Gilroy Snr had to be called home from North Wales where he had been searching for work.
The soldier killed in the follow-up operation was Warrant Officer John Howard (29), a married man from Warwickshire. He died when he stepped on a pressure plate attached to another device.
His commanding officer, Lt Col David Furness-Gibbon said it had been the dead man's second tour of duty in Northern Ireland.
"He was a nice chap, relaxed, friendly and outgoing and he had only been here just over two weeks."
Speaking after the bombing, Gerry Adams - Sinn Féin president at the time - said the bombing should "be a spur on public representatives to bring about a permanent end of the conditions which create all these tragedies".
