The worst previous massacre in the history of the Troubles was on May 17th, 1974, when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) planted three bombs in Dublin and another in Monaghan, killing 33 people.
The bombs in Talbot Street, South Leinster Street and Parnell Street killed 28 people and seriously injured more than 100. In the Talbot Street explosion an entire family, John and Anne O'Brien and their children, Jacqueline (17 months) and Anne Marie (five months), died. The bombers were never caught.
Another UVF bomb killed 15 people in the Catholic-owned McGurks' Bar, on North Queen Street, Belfast, on December 4th, 1971. The bomb brought the entire building down on the customers and the McGurk family.
A week later the IRA retaliated by exploding a bomb outside Moffatt's Furniture Store on the Shankill Road during Saturday afternoon shopping. The bomb killed four people including two children: Tracy Munn (2) and Colin Nicholl (seven months).
On Bloody Friday, July 21st, 1972, the IRA detonated 22 bombs in Belfast in the space of a few minutes, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and the injuring of more than 100. The Claudy bombing on July 31st, 1972, bears comparison with Saturday's bombing in that the IRA detonated three bombs in the village during market day. People running from the first explosion were caught in the subsequent bombs. Eight people died.
Fourteen Civil Rights demonstrators were shot dead by the British army's Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday, January 30th, 1971.
On March 26th, 1973 an IRA bomb on board a bus carrying soldiers and their families exploded on the M62 Motorway in Yorkshire killing nine people including a woman and her two children.
The IRA bombs in Birmingham on November 21st, 1974, killed 22 people. Three bombs were planted in public houses, the worst casualties being in the Tavern in the Town where a bomb in a duffle bag was planted in the packed basement pub.
Ten Protestant men were taken from a bus as they returned from work in south Armagh and shot dead at a crossroads outside Bessbrook in January 1976.
An IRA blast incendiary bomb killed 12 people at La Mon House on the eastern outskirts of Belfast on February 17th, 1977. The device caused a huge fire bomb which incinerated most of the victims.
Eighteen members of the Parachute Regiment were killed on August 27th, 1979, in a twin-landmine attack by the IRA at Narrow Water, near Warrenpoint, Co Down. A few hours earlier, another IRA bomb exploded on board a boat in Donegal Bay killing the former Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, the 79-year-old Dowager Countess Brabourne, their grandson, Nicholas Brabourne (15), and his friend, Paul Maxwell (14).
Seventeen people including teenage girls and young British soldiers attending a disco were killed when the INLA exploded a bomb in the Droppin Well bar near Limavady, Co Derry, on December 6th, 1981.
One of three IRA bombs planted in the shopping streets in Knightsbridge on December 16th, 1982, killed six people. An American tourist was among those killed by the bomb outside Harrods, leading the temporary ostracisation of Sinn Fein in America.
Five people were killed in the bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference on October 12th, 1984. All the dead and injured were attending the conference. The British Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, narrowly avoided serious injury or death when the ceiling of her bathroom collapsed.
On February 28th, 1985, nine RUC members were killed when the IRA mortarbombed Newry RUC station.
Eleven people died when an IRA bomb left in an abandoned social hall exploded as people were gathering for the Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, on November 11th, 1987. A bomb designed to cause similar casualties at Tullyhomond, Co Fermanagh, at the same time failed to explode.
On August 20th, 1988, eight soldiers were killed and 27 injured when the IRA blew up a bus at Ballygawley, Co Tyrone.
Eight Protestant workmen were killed at Teebane Cross, on January 17th, 1992, by an IRA landmine. They had been working at an army base near Cookstown.
Five Catholic men were shot dead by Ulster Defence Association (UDA) gunmen on February 5th, 1992, at a bookmakers shop on the Ormeau Road in Belfast.
Ten people including a seven-year-old girl and her mother and a 13-year-old schoolgirl were killed when an IRA bomb exploded in Frizzell's fish shop on the Shankill Road on October 23rd, 1994. The intention had been to bomb the headquarters of the loyalist Ulster Defence Association (UDA) overhead but the bomb exploded prematurely, killing everyone in the shop including the IRA bomber.
The UDA retaliated seven days later, killing six Catholics and a Protestant when UFF gunmen sprayed the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel, Co Derry, on Halloween night.
On June 18th, 1994, UVF gunmen shot dead six Catholics as they watched Ireland's World Cup victory over Italy in O'Toole's pub in Loughinisland, Co Down.
The three Quinn brothers, Richard (10), Mark (9) and Jason (7), died on July 12th last when their home was firebombed by loyalists who had been involved in the protest over the Drumcree march.