Operation Flavius was the name given to an operation by a Special Air Service

Special Air Service

Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...

 (SAS) team in Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 on 6 March 1988 tasked to prevent a Provisional Irish Republican Army

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

 (IRA) bomb attack. The IRA Active Service Unit

Active Service Unit

An active service unit was a Provisional Irish Republican Army cell of five to eight members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002 the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units....

's (ASU) members, Danny McCann

Daniel McCann

Daniel "Danny" McCann was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army who was killed by British Army Special Air Service soldiers in Operation Flavius.-Background:...

, Seán Savage

Seán Savage

Seán Savage was a volunteer of the Provisional IRA who was shot and killed by British Army Special Air Service soldiers in Operation Flavius.-Early life:...

 and Mairéad Farrell

Mairéad Farrell

Mairéad Farrell was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army . She was killed by SAS soldiers during Operation Flavius, a British Army operation to prevent a bombing in Gibraltar.-Early life:...

, conspired to detonate a car bomb

Car bomb

A car bomb, or truck bomb also known as a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device , is an improvised explosive device placed in a car or other vehicle and then detonated. It is commonly used as a weapon of assassination, terrorism, or guerrilla warfare, to kill the occupants of the vehicle,...

 where a military band assembled for the weekly changing of the guard at the governor’s residence. Although the operation was meant to be an arrest operation, it ended with all three members of the ASU dead.
The IRA members planned to hide the bomb in a car to kill the band members of the Royal Anglian Regiment

Royal Anglian Regiment

The Royal Anglian Regiment is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division.The regiment was formed on 1 September 1964 as the first of the new large infantry regiments, through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the East Anglian Brigade.* 1st Battalion from the...

 that would assemble for the parade.