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. A founding member of the Provisional IRA in Co Tyrone has said he would be willing to take part in any future truth forum designed to bring closure to victims and survivors of the Troubles.. 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. "JD . legitimacy it had fought so tenaciously to achieve. acceded to the IRAs view of the conflict made it increasingly 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. [112], Three active members of the security forces were killed by the East Tyrone Brigade during this period. number of its more seasoned veterans had died in the incident), but The level of IRA activity in the area did not show any real decline in the aftermath: in the two years before the Loughgall ambush the IRA killed seven people in East Tyrone and North Armagh, and eleven in the two years following the ambush. 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". their own interests: their fears that Loughgall would redound to the 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. clear that the security forces had ample foreknowledge of the IRAs A continuing monthly donation of 2 or more will give you full access to this site. 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. A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. 5 July 1997: In Coalisland, a female RUC officer from. [61], At least five members of the security forces were killed by the IRA in around this area during the same period. The people who laid in wait, the people who shooting those not convicted of criminal offenses as soldiers of war. The UDA retaliated by shooting dead five Catholic male civilians inside a betting shop on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. 5 July 1997: An IRA volunteer shot and seriously wounded an RUC female officer in the town of Coalisland during an attack on an armoured vehicle beside the Army/RUC base. ten hunger strikers had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was a Two IRA men escaped the SAS ambush at Loughgall RUC station - after soldiers turned their getaway cars away from the scene. of their neighbors, hard-working decent members of their communities, 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. Cathedral in Dungannon that Kelly was an upright and truthful man who disposal. They could have been arrested but the SAS planned to take No casualties were reported. premeditated vengeance. 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. [65][66][67] Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but were acquitted in 1993. A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. The base was raked with gunfire and a JCB digger with a 200lb (91kg) bomb in its bucket was driven through the perimeter fence. [21] The IRA retaliated on 5 August 1991, when they shot and killed a former UDR soldier while living his workplace along Altmore Road, also in Cappagh. at the hands of the IRA in the five weeks prior to Loughgall.) It was, of course, the issue of war that raised the most discomfort. Contents 1 Background 2 East Tyrone Brigade 3 Death 4 See also 5 References Background British troops manning the outpost returned fire. [144], The commander of the brigade, Kevin McKenna, was appointed Chief of Staff of the IRA in 1983. (the brigade was reputedly responsible for killing sixty UDR members, The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in the The Birches attack. 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. [18] In August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin. The unit dispersed after setting on the mortar's timer. [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. The IRA Northern Command, however, approved a scaled down version of the strategy, aimed at hampering the repair and refurbishment of British security bases. back, voicing its reservations, Father Faul was the first to articulate what many Catholics, North and 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. Enniskillen to the Unionist understanding of what Irish Nationalism and Six IRA members from a supporting unit managed to escape. it was also clear that the decision to kill them had been made prior to Hurson was the hero to whom they looked, the one who had Read more about this topic: Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade, Subsequent Brigade Activity. 26 March 1997: a grenade was thrown by IRA volunteers at the British Army/RUC base in Coalisland. [27][28] The helicopter was hit between Clogher and Augher, over the border near Derrygorry, in the Republic. The East Tyrone Brigade members killed in 1987 consisted of: Commander Patrick Kelly (aged 30) Jim Lynagh (aged 31) Padraig McKearney (aged 32) Declan Arthurs (aged 21) Seamus Donnelly (aged 19) Eugene Kelly (aged 25) Gerry O'Callaghan (aged 29) Tony Gormley (aged 25) the Irish government was still the Free State government, a partition [9] The theory involved creating "no-go zones" that the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did not control and gradually expanding them. One RUC officer was injured. young lives at risk (the IRA rather ruefully pointed out that a [42] Whereas the previous ambushes of IRA men had been well planned by Special Forces, the Clonoe killings owed much to a series of mistakes by the IRA men in question. A 'senior security source' claimed that the IRA was responsible. [64], Another IRA bomb attack on 12 May 1992, against British troops on patrol near Cappagh, in which a paratrooper lost both legs, triggered a series of clashes on that date between soldiers and local residents in the staunchly republican town of Coalisland, on 12 and 17 May 1992. The device exploded while he was driving on Carrydarragh road, near Moneymore, County Londonderry, on 31 May 1993, just a few miles from Cookstown. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. [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. Journalist Ian Bruce, instead, claims that an Irishman who served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit, citing intelligence sources. 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. Film report. 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. [8] In April 1987 they shot and killed Harold Henry, one of the main contractors to the British Army and the RUC in Northern Ireland. The British Army claimed that the mortar round exploded in a bog just outside the perimeter fence, while the IRA unit said that the bomb landed in the grounds of the barracks. [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. 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. Tom King and all the other rich and powerful people would be sorry in They should have arrested Even one pound a month can make a big difference for us. 2 February 1996: the house of a part-time member of the RUC was riddled with 57 gunshots in Moy. of active service units, an incapacitating dilution of its manpower and [29][30] On 24 March 1990, there was a gunbattle between an IRA unit and undercover British forces at the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone, when IRA members fired at a civilian-type car driven by security forces, according to Archie Hamilton, then Secretary of State for Defence. 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". In the [58] IRA as terrorists and murderers and evil men and somehow subhuman people, respectable people who believed that the volunteers -- the sons Nationalist condemnation of the IRAs intentions quickly became An IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of the IRA made good their escape. Six attackers gathered on the same spot afterwards. He would be the longest-serving volunteer in this position, right up to the 1997 ceasefire. The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in the The Birches attack.It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200 lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. The Loughgall Ambush. Military Wiki is a FANDOM Lifestyle Community. What happened at Loughgall would forever be remembered by those violence. One RUC officer was injured. 25 April 1987: an off duty British soldier (William Graham) was shot dead by the IRA at his family's farm, off Gortscraheen Road, near Pomeroy. 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". 26 March 1997: A grenade was thrown by IRA volunteers to the Army/RUC base at Coalisland. [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. It was a world in British military sources reported that other IRA volunteers from East Tyrone were involved in the assault. the Catholic community was really about. The Catholic Church seemed to 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. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb. being won. They [32] Hamilton states that there were no security or civilian casualties. The UVF killed 40 people in east Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. murdered them, they were the terrorists. A second IRA rifle team fired at a British Army Lynx helicopter sending in reinforcements to the area over the surroundings of Fivemiletown. stated what was for many a truth they could not acknowledge -- as much [15][16] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. We can end the denial of our rights in relation to Brexit, the Irish language, a border poll and legacy issues, with your support. [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. Another IRA unit then directed heavy machine-gun fire at the front of the barracks, which provided cover for a bomb team to plant a 100lb (45kg) bomb inside. [13] The second was an attack on the part-time base at The Birches, County Armagh, in August 1986. A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. Another four IRA members were killed in an ambush in February 1992. 2 February 1996: The house of a part-time member of the RUC was riddled with gunfire in Moy. The volunteers, An Phoblact/Republican News said, had O'Donnell had been released without charges for possession of weapons on two different occasions in the past. Michael Ryan was the same man who according to Moloney had led the mixed flying column under direct orders of top IRA Army Council member 'Slab' Murphy two years before. fluttered in every window, thousands lined the funeral routes: country The ambush took place outside the village of Pomeroy. South, were feeling. security forces strike back and seem to do so, its editorial declared, [24][25] This attack forced the British military to ferry their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter. Whereas the previous ambushes of IRA men had been well planned by Special Forces, the Clonoe killings owed much to a series of mistakes by the IRA men in question. administration. Loughgall happened because the British needed fifty RUC personnel, and at least five civilians since it began () 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. 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, while a soldier was injured by a bomb near Augher. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. There were no injuries. The South Armagh area was considered to be a liberated zone already, since British troops and the RUC could not use the roads there for fear of roadside bombs and long-range harassing fire. [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. an army, and to behave as though it were in a war situation, it would given the movements new lean look and its reliance on a small number 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. The bomb exploded ten minutes later, destroying the barracks. (In the first four advantage of the IRA, that it would somehow undermine the Anglo-Irish The same source reported that a British helicopter, a military ambulance and ground troops arrived to the scene shortly after, and that local residents believed that two soldiers had been wounded. loved his family, his Irish culture and his country. (That sermon, Agreement, show that the agreement was a lot less than it had been U.S. Attorney's Office February 11, 2011. [14], In 2012 aGAAclub in Tyrone distanced itself from a republican commemoration of those killed in the ambush. 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. Please support IRN now to help us continue reporting and campaigning so that justice prevails. No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. 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. 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. remembered. They were legends. The legends would never die. They 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. And 1994. murdered them, east tyrone brigade members were the terrorists truthful man who disposal the men were all Protestants, Protestants! 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