History City was targeted by the IRA

The blast at the Manchester Arena was by no means the first time that the city has been targeted by terrorists.

The heart of the city’s shopping district was razed to the ground in June 1996 when the IRA planted 3,300lb of home-made explosives in a lorry on Corporation Street, making it the biggest bomb detonated in Britain since the Second World War.

It caused £500 million worth of damage but, remarkably, it was not fatal.

However, it did leave more than 200 people injured.

In December 1992, two bombs exploded in the city centre injuring 64 people.

Two months later, in February 1993, two IRA bombs exploded in Warrington, Cheshire.

The second killed two children, Johnathan Ball, aged 3, and Tim Parry, 12.