In Dungannon, black flags Agreement, show that the agreement was a lot less than it had been [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. 10 February 1997: A horizontal mortar fired by an IRA unit hit an RUC armoured vehicle leaving a security base. One British soldier was wounded. One soldier was seriously wounded. The Auxiliaries, Republicans were reminded in An Phoblacht/Republican [40][41], On 1 January 1991, a British Army checkpoint was fired on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. 2 February 1996: The house of a part-time member of the RUC was riddled with gunfire in Moy. [115][113] A second soldier, Sergeant Dean Oliver, died in a fratricide incident in Fivemiletown on 9 May 1992, in the aftermath of an IRA bomb attack in the area, as mentioned above.[61][116]. [21] The Volunteers killed at Loughgall were Declan Arthurs (21), Tony Gormley (24), Eugene Kelly (25), Pdraig McKearney (32), Jim Lynagh (31), Gerard O'Callaghan (28), Seamus Donnelly (19) and unit commander Patrick Joseph Kelly (30). The IRA men were intercepted by the SAS as they were trying to dump the lorry and escape in cars in the car park of Clonoe Roman Catholic church, whose roof was set on fire by Army flares. Cathedral in Dungannon that Kelly was an upright and truthful man who The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. At least five members of the security forces were killed by the IRA in around this area during the same period. In the small villages of Armagh and Tyrone they understood. The main target, Brian Arthurs, escaped injury. A soldier was seriously wounded. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing. [2] . 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. their time.. [13] The second was an attack on the part-time base at The Birches, County Armagh, in August 1986. operatives, and with the IRA for once again forcing constitutional The six attackers gathered on the same spot, instead of vanishing separately. The bomb exploded ten minutes later, destroying the barracks. Both Lost Lives and the Sutton Index of Deaths (at CAIN) list him as a civilian. [11] Scottish-born journalist Kevin Toolis has written that from 1985 onward, the brigade led a five-year campaign that left 33 security facilities destroyed and nearly 100 seriously damaged. The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade[1] was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". young lives at risk (the IRA rather ruefully pointed out that a The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in The Birches attack. was cool, was Padraig McKearneys nine-year-old nieces appraisal of . [55][56][57], Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but they were acquitted in 1993. G. Adams (SF) has written to the Prime Minister asking for new political contact. GAA Central Council official reply was that "The GAA has strict protocols and rules in place regarding the use of property for Political purposes. In January 1992, an IRA roadside bomb destroyed a van carrying 14 workers who had been re-building Lisanelly British Army base in Omagh. 7 February 1976: Two Protestant teenagers, Rachel and Robert McLernon (aged 18 and 16, respectively), were killed by an IRA booby-trap bomb, intended for members of the security forces, which had been hidden in an abandoned crashed car, Tyresson Road, 3 December 1977: RUC car ambushed by IRA gunmen firing automatic weapons at Clover Hill Bridge on Benburb Road near. for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, told As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched an attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. See: Attack on UDR Clogher barracks legitimacy it had fought so tenaciously to achieve. being won. premeditated vengeance. For though it was clear that the IRA had Then, one spring night in May 1987, the Brigade launched an attack on the Royal RUC's isolated base in the Armagh village of Loughgall. [38] The IRA said that the men were legitimate targets because they were "collaborating" with the "forces of occupation". [49], On 3 June, three IRA men, Lawrence McNally, Michael "Pete" Ryan, and Tony Doris, died in another SAS ambush at Coagh, where their car was riddled with gunfire. "[20], The SAS ambush had no noticeable long-term effect on the level of IRA activity in East Tyrone. List of brigades of the Irish Republican Army Contents 1 Munster 1.1 County Clare 1.2 County Cork[1][2] 1.3 County Kerry 1.4 County Limerick 1.5 County Tipperary 1.6 County Waterford 2 Leinster 2.1 County Carlow 2.2 County Dublin 2.3 County Kildare 2.4 County Kilkenny 2.5 County Laois 2.6 County Longford 2.7 County Louth 2.8 County Offaly Two IRA men escaped from the scene, but the four named above were killed. It smacks of revenge and retaliation. Moreover -- and he Thank you. The people who laid in wait, the people who The helicopter was hit between Clogher and Augher, over the border near Derrygorry, in the Republic. [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. Incidentally, the RUC vehicle was carrying in custody Pat Treanor, a Sinn Fin councillor from Clones, a border town in County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland. The volunteers, An Phoblact/Republican News said, had [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 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched an attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. 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. with firepower ferociously excessive for the occasion invoked folk circumstances of what could be construed as a shoot-to-kill policy, the It was a devastating setback for the IRA, practically decimating the 12 November 1983: a RUC officer (Paul Clarke) was killed and several others were injured in an IRA mortar bomb attack on Carrickmore British Army/Royal Ulster Constabulary base. in the North was war? All eight members of the East Tyrone Brigade team were killed. [44][45], On 31 January 1992, an IRA van bomb blew up in downtown Dungannon, resulting in three people wounded and severe property damage[46] to the city centre and to the RUC/Army base. [32] Hamilton states that there were no security or civilian casualties. [26], A 2009 reenacment of a Provisional IRA active service unit in Galbally, County Tyrone, 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. 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. [93] The fortified[94] courthouse in Cookstown was meanwhile damaged by two bombs planted there on 15 October 1993. The ambush took place outside the village of Pomeroy. [97][114] Another fatality was a Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) soldier, Private Christopher Wren, slain when off-duty by the blast of a booby-trap planted in his car. 22 February 1997: An IRA mortar unit was intercepted by the RUC in $3, on its way to carry out an attack on a British security facility. On 30 August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin as they tried to kill an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment member near Carrickmore. [22] However, many of their remaining members were young and inexperienced and fell into further ambushes, leading to high casualties by the standards of the low intensity guerrilla conflict in Northern Ireland. Despite increasing support for Irish freedom and unity, we need your help to overcome British and unionist intransigence. 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. [35][36] The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen.[37]. [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). cursing the whole time. The Clonmult ambush was a setback for the IRA [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. 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. 112 relations. Ed Moloney, Irish journalist and author of the Secret History of the IRA, states that the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade lost 53 members killed in the Troubles, the highest of any rural Brigade area. Six attackers gathered on the same spot afterwards. Ed Moloney, Irish journalist and author of the Secret History of the IRA, states that the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade lost 53 members killed in the Troubles - the highest of any Brigade area. [24][25] This attack forced the British military to ferry their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter. [30] Journalist Ian Bruce claims that an unidentified Irishman who had served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit, citing intelligence sources. This was in response to a complaint from Democratic Unionist Party Assemblyman William McCrea accusing the GAA of turning a blind eye to "republican terrorist" events in the last years. 2 June 1977: Three members of a RUC mobile patrol were shot dead by East Tyrone Brigade snipers near Ardboe close to the shores of Lough Neagh. [35][36][37], On 24 March 1990, there was a gun battle between an IRA unit and undercover British forces in the main street of the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone, in which IRA members fired at a civilian-type car driven by security forces, according to Archie Hamilton, then Secretary of State for Defence. Theirs was a closed world [10][11] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. [91], Other operations against security facilities in this period included a sniper and small arms attack on the British Army base of Killymeal, Dungannon, on 22 May 1993; the brigade claimed a subsequent exchange of fire between IRA volunteers in supporting role and British soldiers crewing an observation post. [19][unreliable source? On 1 January 1991, a British Army outpost was fire on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. abiding minds in Northern Ireland.), Nationalists were wary. An innocent civilian, Anthony Hughes, who was shot dead by the SAS had [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. [14], In 2012 aGAAclub in Tyrone distanced itself from a republican commemoration of those killed in the ambush. The RUC patrol returned fire. The facilities damaged by mortar bombs included the above-mentioned Ballygawley barracks, a British Army outpost at Aughnacloy, the RUC barracks at Clogher and Beragh, both resulting in massive damage but no injuries, an overshot aimed at the RUC base in $3, which was also hit by gunfire, and the RUC stations at Carrickmore, Fintona and Pomeroy. See this British Commons account about the NI violence for the first month of 1990: See the May 12 and May 17 entries at the 1992 CAIN chronology: Fortnight, Issues 324-334, Fortnight Publications, 1994, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Provisional Irish Republican Army campaign 19691997, "SAS shooting 'destroyed deadly IRA unit'", http://archives.tcm.ie/breakingnews/2001/05/05/story11832.asp, http://sluggerotoole.com/2011/12/02/loughgall-terrorists-could-not-have-been-arrested/, http://www.midulstermail.co.uk/news/local/gaa-distances-itself-from-ira-commemorations-1-3753356, "Calculating, professional enemy that faces KOSB", http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/calculating-professional-enemy-that-faces-kosb-1.598672, "Land Mine Kills 7 British Soldiers on Bus in Ulster", http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/21/world/ira-claims-killing-of-8-soldiers-as-it-steps-up-attacks-on-british.html, "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, CAIN - Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1992-UTV news, 31 January 1992, CAIN - Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1993 - BBC news, 26 April 1993 and UTV news, 29 April 1993, CAIN - Listing of Programmes for the Year: 1992 - BBC news, 5 March 1992, The Irish Emigrant - May 18, 1992: New Paratroop Controversy, "I.R.A. 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. [22] On 16 September 1989, a British Sergeant of the Royal Corps of Signals was shot and killed by an IRA sniper while he was repairing a radio mast at Coalisland Army/RUC base. ], In 2012 a Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club in Tyrone distanced itself from a republican commemoration of those killed in the ambush. 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. their lives, and out of the sacrifice would come a greater number of at the hands of the IRA in the five weeks prior to Loughgall.) murdered them, they were the terrorists. responsibilities to the dead. If the RUC, he said, had prior information O'Donnell had been released without charges for possession of weapons on two different occasions in the past. Hurson died. Tommy, had been in the H-blocks for eleven years. An Phoblacht claimed the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. volunteers after they had surrendered following an armed encounter. [22] British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the attack on the military bus at Curr Road. killings. back, voicing its reservations, Father Faul was the first to articulate what many Catholics, North and police station. vindicate the IRAs unswerving contention -- a contention for which the [78], From mid-1992 up to the 1994 cease fire, IRA units in east and south Tyrone carried out a dozen bomb and mortar attacks against RUC and military bases and assets. Thatcher coldly informed Cardinal OFiaich in May 1981, when OFiaich There was also an element of benign triumphalism in official The base was raked with gunfire and a JCB digger with a 200lb (91kg) bomb in its bucket was driven through the perimeter fence. [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. At least two British soldiers were severely wounded in action near Cappagh[66] and Pomeroy[70] in 1992. 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. stated what was for many a truth they could not acknowledge -- as much There were a number of actions carried out by the IRA in the eastern part of Tyrone from 1996 up to the latest IRA ceasefire of July 1997: Risn McAliskey, daughter of political activist Bernadette McAliskey and suspected IRA member from Coalisland was accused by German authorities of being involved in a mortar attack on British Army facilities in Osnabrck, Germany, on 28 June 1996. sanctioned a shoot-to-kill policy; in short, that Irish lives were As always, constitutional nationalists put the matter in the context of [24], According to journalist Ed Moloney, Michael "Pete" Ryan, an alleged top Brigade's member, was the commander of the IRA flying column that attacked a permanent checkpoint at Derryard, County Fermanagh, on 13 December 1989. wanton murders of nine young Irishmen by the soldiers of a foreign [39] On 31 January an IRA van bomb blew up in downtown Dungannon, resulting in three people wounded and severe damage[40] both on the city centre and the RUC/Army base. triumphalist importunings of the old enemy. Another former UDR soldier was killed when an IRA bomb exploded underneath his car in Kildress, County Tyrone in April 1993; it was claimed that he had loyalist connections. fifty RUC personnel, and at least five civilians since it began In 1985 and 1986, the East Tyrone Brigade carried out two attacks on RUC bases in their operational area, described by author Mark Urban as "spectaculars". No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. [117] Two of the wounded were also off-duty UDR soldiers. The Irish Republican Army's East Tyrone Brigade was one of the most active over the course of the last 30 years. All the IRA members involved withdrew successfully. 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. Tom King and all the other rich and powerful people would be sorry in The level of IRA activity in the area did not show any real decline in the aftermath: in the two years prior to the Loughgall ambush the IRA killed seven people in East Tyrone and North Armagh, and eleven in the two years following the ambush.
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