This weekend will mark the 50th anniversary of the M62 coach bombing which claimed the lives of nine soldiers and three civilians.

The IRA bombing on February 4, 1974 was one of the deadliest mainland terror acts committed on British soil during the Troubles, with three of the soldiers coming from Oldham.

On Sunday, an extended parade will be held along with a special memorial service and a wreath laying ceremony at Hartshead Moor Services, westbound, near where the incident took place.

The regiment said relatives, representatives from all of the regiments involved and VIPs would attend to pay tribute to the fallen.

James Denny, Regimental Secretary of The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, said: "The 50th anniversary will be a significant milestone especially for the families, so we intend to come together as we always do to remember and pay tribute to those who were killed or injured on that fateful day."

Cpl Cliff Houghton, 23, Lance Cpl James McShane, 28, and Fusilier Jack Hynes, 19, all from Oldham, were amongst the fatalities that day.

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The coach was driving a number of off-duty service personnel and relatives from Manchester to an Army base in Catterick, North Yorkshire, and one in Darlington.

After departing from Manchester on the evening of February 3, a 25lb bomb left in a luggage locker on board detonated shortly after midnight on February 4 while many of the people on board slept.

Some civilians were on the coach as well, including Cpl Houghton's wife, Linda, and their two sons, Lee and Robert, who were aged five and two respectively.

Dozens of people were injured by the bomb and the aftermath led to one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British history.

Ten days after the bombing, 25-year-old Judith Ward, from Stockport, was arrested while waiting to board a ferry from Liverpool to Ireland.

She was wrongfully convicted and served 17 years of a life imprisonment sentence, before her convictions was quashed in 1992 by the Court of Appeals.

This came after it was revealed government forensic scientists had deliberately withheld information from her defence counsel during her trial which strongly indicated her innocence.

In 2010, a plaque honouring the victims was unveiled outside Oldham Parish Church.