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A man was arrested in connection with the murder of 21 people in the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, West Midlands police said.
The 65-year-old man was arrested in Belfast by counter-terrorism agents under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
His home is being searched and he will be interviewed under caution at a Northern Ireland police station.
The Tavern in the Town pub was also targeted by the bomb attack.
In April 2019, an investigative jury found that a failed IRA warning call resulted in the deaths of 21 people illegally killed in the November 21, 1974 atrocity.
Two bombs planted in the Mulberry Bush and Tavern in the Town pubs also injured another 220 people.
Wednesday’s arrest comes just a month after Interior Secretary Priti Patel said she would study calls for a public inquiry into the bombings.
Ms Patel also wanted to visit Birmingham to meet activists, including Julie Hambleton, who is a member of Justice for 21 and lost her 18-year-old sister Maxine in the pub bombings.
In response to news of the arrest, Ms. Hambleton called it “the most monumental event” in the criminal investigation into the bombings since the convictions of the Birmingham Six were overturned in 1991.
When a senior West Midlands police officer telephoned her with the news of the arrest, she recounted how she broke down in tears.
Interior Minister Priti Patel has said she would consider conducting a public inquiry into the attacks.
“I couldn’t speak, I was inconsolable and I was looking at the picture of Maxine,” he said.
“It’s good news. It’s overwhelming news.
“It’s tangible progress,” he said, and “something we’ve been waiting for a long time.”
“Having this development, whatever happens, does not in any way diminish our desire for a full public investigation to take place,” he said.
“There are broader issues that need to be examined, and a lot of things went wrong, like why six men were arrested for a crime they did not commit.”
She added: “How was it that for so long, after 21 people were blown up and more than 200 innocent souls were injured, no one was looking for the perpetrators?”
No one has ever been brought to justice for the attack.
