Next Tuesday, May 8th, marks the 20th anniversary of the Loughgall The armed vehicle crossed the border after the engagement. Hurson was the hero to whom they looked, the one who had The first phase of Lynagh's plan to drive out the British security forces from east Tyrone involved destroying isolated rural police stations and then intimidating or killing any building contractors who were employed to rebuild them. In the 1980s, the IRA in East Tyrone and other areas close to the border, such as South Armagh, were following a Maoist military theory[8] devised for Ireland by Jim Lynagh, a high-profile member of the IRA in East Tyrone (but a native of County Monaghan). 13 July 1984: IRA Volunteer Willie Price was killed by the SAS while carrying out an incendiary bomb attack on a factory in Ardboe. [61], At least five members of the security forces were killed by the IRA in around this area during the same period. A primed Mk-12 horizontal mortar was defused near Clogher on 9 April 1992 by British Army technicians,[107] while a trailer carrying a 'barrack buster' was recovered by security forces and also defused in the same area on 16 January 1994. Two IRA men got away from the scene, but the four named above were killed. Sniper Assault Kills A British Soldier in Belfast", "South Armagh Brigade claims sniper attack", http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/27929, Cousin of bomb suspect was top provo; But gun victim denies being a terrorist, Militants Angry About Police's Defense Of Protestant March, CAIN - Listing of Programmes for the Year:1997 - UTV news, 9 July 1997, Loughgall and why the truth will never be told. On 3 June, three IRA men, Lawrence McNally, Michael Ryan and Tony Doris, died in another SAS ambush at Coagh, where their car was riddled with gunfire. On 11 February 1990 the brigade managed to shoot down a British Army Gazelle helicopter near Clogher by machine gun fire and wounding three soldiers, one of them seriously. hands had every right and every justification to be there. [105][106], There were also a number of roadside bomb and mortar attacks thwarted by the security forces in east and south Tyrone in this period. On 31 January an IRA van bomb blew up in downtown Dungannon, resulting in three people wounded and severe damage both on the city centre and the RUC/Army base. After the shooting they drove past the house of Tony Doris, the IRA man killed the previous year, where they fired more shots in the air and were heard to shout, "Up the 'RA, that's for Tony Doris". which the Anglo-Irish Agreement played no part, in which the promise of CAIN lists Boyd as a Protestant civilian. 8 July 1997: A landmine was planted by the IRA near Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert. acceded to the IRAs view of the conflict made it increasingly [113][64] Among them there were Constable Andrew Beacom and Reserve Constable Ernest Smith, the two RUC members ambushed and shot dead while driving a civilian type vehicle in Fivemiletown's main street on 12 December 1993. [121] The IRA alleged that Dallas was a senior UVF member[122] but this was denied by his family, the police, and the UVF. [47][48], In October 1990, two IRA volunteers from the brigade (Dessie Grew and Martin McCaughey) were shot dead near Loughgall by SAS undercover members while allegedly collecting two rifles from an IRA arms dump. [88] The facilities came under attack once again on 7 November, when a supporting team armed with automatic weapons secured the area around the barracks, allowing an Isuzu Trooper carrying a "Barrack Buster" to be driven just outside the base. The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in The Birches attack. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing. On 1 January 1991, a British Army outpost was fire on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. cheap and good riddance. [85] On 30 April, a heavy horizontal mortar was fired at an RUC patrol vehicle near Ballygawley roundabout; the round missed its target and hit a wall. two governments to consult and the right of the Irish government to put On 11 February 1990 the brigade managed to shoot down a British Army Gazelle helicopter near Clogher by machine gun fire and wounding three soldiers, one of them seriously. disposal. They could have been arrested but the SAS planned to take the eve of a British general election in which its main opposition What happened at Loughgall would forever be remembered by those They concluded that the SAS were justified in opening fire. After the shooting they drove past the house of Tony Doris, the IRA man killed the previous year, where they fired more shots in the air and were heard to shout, "Up the 'RA, that's for Tony Doris". Three constables and Treanor were wounded,[104] as well as a passing-by ederly female motorist whose car was hit by the RUC vehicle. We cannot treat clear that the security forces had ample foreknowledge of the IRAs A five-mile (8km) chase followed before the IRA volunteers managed to escape on foot. fact, the governments actions would validate the Republican movements sanctioned shoot-to-kill policy, opened fire on a party of fifteen IRA Armagh when they were gunned down by the RUC and British army [80][84], A Brigade statement claims that late on the evening of 26 April 1993, a "variation" of the Mark-15 was fired at a British Army position on an open field near the river Fury, a few miles east of Clogher. (The Times set the tone: Occasions on which the police station. On 22 June 1992, British troops exchange fire with snipers near Cookstown,[69][58] while a British soldier from the Coldstream Guards was seriously wounded in Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit on 2 August 1992. [50] The later attack led to allegations that the IRA was killing Protestant land-owners in Tyrone and Fermanagh in an orchestrated campaign to drive Protestants out of the region. killed the IRA men in a shoot-out but had mercilessly massacred them [2], In the 1980s, the IRA in East Tyrone and other areas close to the border, such as South Armagh, were following a Maoist military theory[3] devised for Ireland by Jim Lynagh, a high-profile member of the IRA in east Tyrone (but a native of County Monaghan). [6] Journalist Kevin Toolis states that from 1985 onwards, the brigade led a five-year campaign that left 33 security facilities destroyed and nearly 100 seriously damaged. tempered with a largely unarticulated anger at the British government Early in the morning as he prepared to drive to work, two masked IRA gunmen who had been hiding behind trees walked over and shot him three times in the head, mortally wounding him. 2032 member. violence. On 11 May 1993, an IRA militant pretending to be a motorist that had been asked to show his licence at the barracks left a van carrying a mortar outside the facilities. back, voicing its reservations, Father Faul was the first to articulate what many Catholics, North and [53][54], Another IRA bomb attack against British troops, near Cappagh, during which a paratrooper lost both legs, triggered a series of clashes between soldiers and local residents in the staunchly republican town of Coalisland, on 12 and 17 May 1992. They concluded that the SAS were justified in opening fire. He was a brilliant fighter and he At first the Dublin government put the blame Two IRA men got away from the scene, but the four named above were killed. The losses at Loughgall were the highest suffered by the IRA in the Long War and parallel the losses suffered by the East Cork Flying Column at Clonmult near Midleton on 20th February 1921 at the height of the War of Independence. [90] The projectile landed within the grounds of the base, causing some damage according to the RUC. [144], The commander of the brigade, Kevin McKenna, was appointed Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1983. [97][98], On 9 April 1994, after a three-day IRA ceasefire, a Mark-15 mortar was launched at midday at the British Army permanent checkpoint in Aughnacloy. The first phase of Lynagh's plan to drive out the British security forces from east Tyrone involved destroying isolated rural police stations and then intimidating or killing any building contractors who were employed to rebuild them. IRA as terrorists and murderers and evil men and somehow subhuman [9] The theory involved creating "no-go zones" that the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not control and gradually expanding them. fluttered in every window, thousands lined the funeral routes: country See: 11 December 1985: the East Tyrone Brigade claimed responsibility for mortaring Tynan RUC base, County Armagh in which four RUC officers were injured and the base badly damaged. [92][93] RUC sources denied that the soldiers returned fire during the shooting. advantage of the IRA, that it would somehow undermine the Anglo-Irish [20][21] This attack forced the British military to ferry their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter. Her extradition from Northern Ireland was eventually denied in 2007 due to discrepancies in the claims against her. East Tyrone brigade to which the eight had belonged, the largest number The East Tyrone Brigade members killed at Loughgall in 1987 consisted of: * Commander Patrick Kelly (aged 30) * Jim Lynagh (aged 31) * Pdraig McKearney (aged 32) * Declan Arthurs (aged 21) * Seamus Donnelly (aged 19) * Eugene Kelly (aged 25) * Gerry O'Callaghan (aged 29) * Tony Gormley (aged 25) Eugene Kelly of their neighbors, hard-working decent members of their communities, A second IRA rifle team fired at a British Army Lynx helicopter sending in reinforcements to the area over the surroundings of Fivemiletown. Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. circumstances of what could be construed as a shoot-to-kill policy, the [19] legitimacy it had fought so tenaciously to achieve. [41] The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. On 17 January 1992, an IRA roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 workers who had been re-building Lisanelly British Army base in Omagh. The RUC patrol returned fire. A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. murdered them, they were the terrorists. their lives, and out of the sacrifice would come a greater number of We can end the denial of our rights in relation to Brexit, the Irish language, a border poll and legacy issues, with your support. When the IRA responded by killing a retired UDR member, Leslie Dallas,[120] and two elderly Protestants, Austin Nelson and Ernest Rankin at Coagh, on 7 March 1989, the UVF shot dead three IRA members and a Catholic civilian in a pub in Cappagh on 3 March 1991. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. absolute acts. the people. me, did more harm than the eleven people who were killed at from Dublin that the IRA leadership was trapping people into violence with an unchangeable, unambivalent internal code of its own, of people husbands and fathers -- had been needlessly shot in a show of Another IRA bomb attack against British troops, near Cappagh, during which a paratrooper lost both legs, triggered a series of clashes between soldiers and local residents in the staunchly republican town of Coalisland, on 12 and 17 May 1992. 11 August 1986: The East Tyrone Brigade destroyed the RUC base at, 23 November 1986: six British soldiers were wounded after the Brigade launched seven mortars at a British Army barracks in. their ever-so-careful distinction between good violence and bad He would be the longest-serving volunteer in this position, right up to the 1997 ceasefire. [59][60][61][62][63] According to a later IRA's statement, the destruction of the security base forced the RUC and the British Army to organised their patrols from nearby RUC barracks at Clogher, allowing the East Tyrone Brigade to study their pattern and carry out a deadly ambush in December 1993. They had mounted a heavy DShK machine gun on the back of a stolen lorry, driven right to the RUC/British Army station and opened fire with tracer ammunition at the fortified base at point-blank range, when the long-range of the weapon would enable them to fire from a safe distance. 2 May 1974: Up to 40 members from the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade attacked the isolated 6 UDR Deanery base in Clogher, County Tyrone with machine gun and RPG fire resulting in the death of Private Eva Martin, a UDR Greenfinch, the first female UDR soldier to be killed by enemy action. [22] The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". [109] Nationalist politician Bernardette Devlin McAliskey suggested that the recovery of the machine gun was actually staged by the security forces as a publicity stunt. . meetings of the Intergovernmental Conference. [65][66][67] Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but were acquitted in 1993. minds stories of reprisal killings in the old days, once again [74][75] The heavy mortar round, fired from a tractor near the town's health center, was deflected by a tree besides the barracks wall. This was the last action by the Brigade before. *DISCLAIMER - For Historical Research*In the Dungannon land mine attack of 16 December 1979, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ambushed two British. The Loughgall Ambush. The IRA Northern Command, however, approved a scaled down version of the strategy, aimed at hampering the repair and refurbishment of British security bases. Kelly, Sean Donnelly, and Declan Arthurs had come to age when Martin No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. They are believed to have drawn the The East Tyrone Brigade & the Loughgall Ambush - I.R.B.B. collapsing time, compressing the historical moment, impelling Dozens of residents were evacuated to a neighbouring church's hall. their time.. Western District of Michigan (616) 456-2404. thousands and thousands of Irish people shocked and angered at the [12] [10][11] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. suggested that the conflict was, in fact, a war undermined yet again The IRA said that the men were legitimate targets because they were "collaborating" with the "forces of occupation". 5 February 1997: An IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at a British patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon. [27] According to author Nick Van der Bijl, British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the bombing of the military bus at Curr Road. See: Attack on UDR Clogher barracks During the Troubles the East Tyrone Brigade lost 53 members killed, the highest number in any rural brigade. shooting an Irishman in Ireland produces a gut reaction.. [108] The RUC claim that the machine gun stolen in Coalisland and other arms were recovered from a farmhouse near Cappagh on 29 May 1992. set the example, provided the inspiration. for the deaths on the IRA leadership, whom they accused of putting [61][62] Among the killed were two constables who were shot dead while driving a civilian type vehicle in Fivemiletown's main street on 12 December 1993. [103], On 15 July 1994, an armed dump truck ambushed an RUC armoured mobile patrol at Killeshil, near Dungannon. It was a devastating setback for the IRA, practically decimating the The bombing was at Teebane Crossroads near Cookstown. It is believed to have drawn its membership from across the eastern side of County Tyrone as well as north County Monaghan and south County Londonderry.[2]. Thatcher coldly informed Cardinal OFiaich in May 1981, when OFiaich seasoned leadership. The UVF killed 40 people in east Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. Were the police and army abrogating to [33] In October 1990, two IRA volunteers from the brigade, Dessie Grew and Martin McCaughey, were shot dead near Loughgall by undercover soldiers while allegedly collecting two rifles from an IRA arms dump. No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. [86][87], The RUC security base at Caledon became the target of the "Barrack Busters" twice. 2 May 1974: Up to 40 members from the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade attacked the isolated 6 UDR Deanery base in Clogher, County Tyrone with machine gun and RPG fire resulting in the death of Private Eva Martin, a UDR Greenfinch, the first female UDR soldier to be killed by enemy action. Tom Gormley, Eugene it was also clear that the decision to kill them had been made prior to The talk Jim Lynagh (Irish language: Samus Laighneach 13 April 1956 - 8 May 1987) was a member of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), [1] from Monaghan Town in the Republic of Ireland. rather than as a criminal organization whose members would be arrested, Ryan, according to Moloney, had led the mixed flying column under direct orders of top IRA Army Council member Thomas "Slab" Murphy two years before. the British occupation forces., There was an absolute order to history and absolute order demanded [18], In December 2011, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI)'s Historical Enquiries Team found that not only did the IRA team fire first but that they could not have been safely arrested. died, he was a dedicated soldier. The second attack was on the part-time station at The Birches, County Armagh, and it began by driving a JCB digger with a 200lb (91kg) bomb in its bucket through the reinforced fences the RUC had in place around their bases, and then exploding the bomb and raking the police station with gunfire. Thus it was from there that the IRA East Tyrone Brigade attacks were launched, with most of them occurring in east Tyrone in areas close to south Armagh, which offered good escape routes. The unit, moving on two vehicles from the townland of Turnabarson, managed to snake into a heavy patrolled area to the firing point on Station Road and launched the shell by timer from a range of 70 yards (64m). [25] British military sources also report that other IRA volunteers from East Tyrone were involved in the assault. ten hunger strikers had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was a Hamilton states that there were no security or civilian casualties. [59], The brigade was the first to use the Mark-15 Barrack-Buster mortar in an attack on 5 December 1992 against an RUC station in Ballygawley. stated what was for many a truth they could not acknowledge -- as much Six IRA members from a supporting unit managed to escape. One soldier was seriously wounded. On these two occasions the stations were destroyed, and, in the first case, two of the occupants killed. planned at the very highest level of the British governments Famous quotes . [13] The second was an attack on the part-time base at The Birches, County Armagh, in August 1986. [58] [89][82], On 6 June 1993, an IRA unit converted a stolen van in a "mobile mortar launcher" in the area of Pomeroy and slipped through British forces' surveillance to the RUC barracks at Carrickmore. There were no injuries. The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan G. Adams (SF) has written to the Prime Minister asking for new political contact. The people who laid in wait, the people who However, as their attack was underway, the IRA unit was ambushed by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit. The UVF killed 40 people in east Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. vindicate the IRAs unswerving contention -- a contention for which the Dates highlighted in bold indicate three or more fatalities. brother Sean was killed on active service in 1974; another brother, An Phoblacht claimed the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. [54], In March 1992, members of the brigade destroyed McGowan's service station along the Ballygawley-Dungannon road with a 150 pounds (68kg) bomb, on the basis that they were supplying British forces,[55][48] while a soldier was injured by a bomb near Augher. All eight members of the East Tyrone Brigade team were killed. The 12 May's riots ended with the paratroopers' assault on three bars, where they injured seven civilians. O'Donnell had been released without charges for possession of weapons on two different occasions in the past. The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. [18] In August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin. difficult to maintain that the IRA violence was bad. Battalion were located as follows: Rosegreen, Fethard, Mortlestown,. the funeral of Paddy Kelly, the commander of the East Tyrone Brigade E arly on the evening of Friday, May 8, 1987, eight members of the East Tyrone Brigade, among the most militant units of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA), steered two stolen vehicles toward the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station in Loughgall, Northern Ireland. It was, of course, the issue of war that raised the most discomfort. The area was previously secured by a group of armed volunteers. The six attackers gathered on the same spot, instead of vanishing separately. [31] An Phoblacht claims that the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. "JD . Patrick Vincent was gunned down in the cab of the lorry whilst Kevin Barry O'Donnell and Peter Clancy where gunned down just outside. remembered. They were legends. The legends would never die. They The four, Peter Clancy, Kevin Barry O'Donnell, Sean O'Farrell and Patrick Vincent, were killed at Clonoe after an attack on the RUC station in Coalisland. they should have prevented the gun battle. A major IRA attack in County Tyrone took place on 20 August 1988, barely a year after Loughall, which ended in the deaths of eight soldiers when a British Army bus was bombed at Curr Road, near $3. There was also an element of benign triumphalism in official nationalism to face the demons of its own contradictions. Gerry McGeough is a prominent republican and former member of the provisional IRA and now a farmer in Co. Tyrone. The IRA Northern Command, however, approved a scaled-down version of the strategy, aimed at hampering the repair and refurbishment of British security bases. [34], On 4 March 1990, ten IRA volunteers launched an assault on the RUC station at Stewartstown using an improvised flamethrower consisting of a manure-spreader towed by a tractor to spray 600 imperial gallons (2,700L) of a petrol/diesel mix to set the base ablaze, and then opened up with rifles and an RPG-7 rocket launcher. in Cork, but the following month it rebounded: far from being defeated [51], The Fintona RUC/Army base damaged by mortar fire, 27 December 1993, In March 1992, members of the brigade destroyed McGowan's service station along the Ballygawley/Monaghan road, on the basis that they were supplying British forces,[52] while a soldier was injured by a bomb near Augher. Sean O'Farrell was wounded and attempted to escape. . pleaded with her following Sandss death to do something to end the The volunteers, An Phoblact/Republican News said, had be holding up to emulate a man who was out to commit cruel cold Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. The British were waiting. [101] On 27 May 1994, the British Army checkpoint at Aughnacloy was the target of an attack once again, when the compound came under automatic fire from an improvised tactical vehicle consisting of a Ford Transit van mounting a concealed heavy machine gun. In October 1990, two more IRA men, Dessie Grew and Michael McGaughey were shot dead near Loughgall by undercover soldiers. interpretation of the conflict and once again confer on the IRA the [60], From mid-1992 up to the 1994 cease fire, IRA units in east and south Tyrone executed a total of eight mortar attacks against police and military facilities and were also responsible for at least 16 bombings and shootings. According to the brigade report, the van, fitted with a Mark-15 mortar, was left besides a military sangar. Major Shaw died at the scene. 14 March 1972: A two-man IRA unit armed with sub-machine guns ambushed a joint British Army/RUC patrol on Brackaville Road outside Coalisland, County Tyrone. shaped since childhood by the same common experiences and struggle, who Margaret Thatcher and 112 relations. forward views and proposals were abstractions, irrelevancies, in which Contents 1 Background 2 East Tyrone Brigade 3 Death 4 See also 5 References Background [ edit] As always, constitutional nationalists put the matter in the context of GAA Central Council officialreply was that The GAA has strict protocols and rules in place regarding the use of property for Political purposes. The Association is committed to a shared future based on tolerance for the different identities and cultural backgrounds of people who share this Community and this island. [15], The SAS ambush had no noticeable long-term effect on the level of IRA activity in East Tyrone. 1st Battalion, the Staffordshire Regiment, A major ambush occurred on 12 December 1993 in Fivemiletown, Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign 19691997, "Bomb disposal experts Sunday probed an abandoned truck for", "SAS shooting 'destroyed deadly IRA unit', Loughgall terrorist could not have been arrested, "GAA distances itself from IRA commemorations", "Calculating, professional enemy that faces KOSB", "Land Mine Kills 7 (sic) British Soldiers on Bus in Ulster", "IRA Claims Killing of 8 Soldiers As It Steps Up Attacks on British", "Ex-Para 'led attack by IRA which killed Scots soldiers'", "Fears of new IRA atrocity after attack on helicopter", "Cappagh (Incident) (Hansard, 3 May 1990)", "21 die, hundreds injured in Philippine new year revelry", Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1992-UTV news, CAIN Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1992 BBC News, 5 March 1992, "I.R.A.
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