The bar was packed at the Parador Hotel when an explosive device was thrown at the Belfast venue.
A total of seven people are hurt following a bomb explosion at the Parador Hotel on the Ormeau Road in Belfast, but the toll could have been much worse.
The bar was packed with Saturday night drinkers when the bomb exploded at half past nine.
Two men threw a 15 pound bomb over the eight foot perimeter wall surrounding the hotel before escaping in a waiting car. The blast ripped a large hole in the front of the hotel, demolished the wall and sent large pieces of broken glass flying into the front lounge of the building where patrons were drinking.
The Parador is Catholic owned, but it has a mixed clientele.
Damage was also caused to houses next to the hotel, and an electrical fault left nearby homes without electricity overnight. This is the second time in six months that the Parador has been bombed, and it is the third hotel to be bombed in Belfast in the space of seven days, leaving only a few hotels in business.
In addition to the Parador, there were a number of other smaller bombing incidents. A 30 pound device was defused outside Andersonstown Police Station in West Belfast.
In the most intensive campaigns this year there have been over 100 bombings and attempted bombings in the North during the past week.
Most of the bombs have been small around the 10 pound mark which leads security forces to surmise that for the moment, the bombers on both sides are running low on material.
In the first 101 days of this year 104 people have died in the North and that's the worst start to any year in 'the Troubles' yet.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 11 April 1976. The reporter is Jim Dougal.
