McCANN AND OTHERS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 48 significantly increasing the risk of detection (see paragraph 23 (point (e) above). - There was no reason to doubt the bona fides of Soldier G’s assessment that the car was a suspect car bomb. In the first place his evidence was that he was quite familiar with car bombs. Moreover, the car had been parked by a known bomb-maker who had been seen to "fiddle" with something between the seats and the car aerial appeared to be out of place. IRA car bombs had been known from experience to have specially-fitted aerials and G could not say for certain from an external examination that the car did not contain a bomb (see paragraph 48 above). Furthermore, all three suspects appeared to be leaving Gibraltar. Finally the operation of cordoning off the area around the car began only twenty minutes after the above assessment had been made because of the shortage of available manpower and the fact that the evacuation plans were not intended for implementation until 7 or 8 March. - It would have been reckless for the authorities to assume that the terrorists might not have detonated their bomb if challenged. The IRA were deeply committed terrorists who were, in their view, at war with the United Kingdom and who had in the past shown a reckless disregard for their own safety. There was still a real risk that if they had been faced with a choice between an explosion causing civilian casualties and no explosion at all, the terrorists would have preferred the former. (3) The Commission 191. The Commission considered that, given the soldiers’ perception of the risk to the lives of the people of Gibraltar, the shooting of the three suspects could be regarded as absolutely necessary for the legitimate aim of the defence of others from unlawful violence. It also concluded that, having regard to the possibility that the suspects had brought in a car bomb which, if detonated, would have occasioned the loss of many lives and the possibility that the suspects could have been able to detonate it when confronted by the soldiers, the planning and execution of the operation by the authorities did not disclose any deliberate design or lack of proper care which might have rendered the use of lethal force disproportionate to the aim of saving lives. (b) The Court’s assessment (1) Preliminary considerations 192. In carrying out its examination under Article 2 (art. 2) of the Convention, the Court must bear in mind that the information that the United Kingdom authorities received that there would be a terrorist attack in Gibraltar presented them with a fundamental dilemma. On the one hand, they were required to have regard to their duty to protect the lives of the