No casualties were reported. 1 Battalion: Unit strength on 11 July 1921 was 265 all ranks, and the strength on 1 July 1922 was 312 all ranks.The companies of the 1st. with an unchangeable, unambivalent internal code of its own, of people [77], The commander in chief of the brigade,[78] Kevin MacKenna, was also appointed 'chief of staff' of the IRA in 1983. Eight were killed and the rest were badly wounded. subconscious there were the old beliefs: that the British had no regard died, he was a dedicated soldier. (The Times set the tone: Occasions on which the 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. committed against Republicans: Clonmult in County Cork, 20 February [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. At least five members of the security forces were killed by the IRA in around this area during the same period. The IRA responded by killing senior UVF man and former UDR member Leslie Dallas on 7 March 1989, but the UVF shot dead three IRA members and a Catholic civilian in a pub in Cappagh on 3 March 1991. On 1 January 1991, a British Army outpost was fired on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. Six attackers gathered on the same spot afterwards. IRA. The young men who were there [at Loughgall] with guns in their 7 December 1985: during an attack on the RUC barracks in Ballygawley, the IRA killed two RUC officers (Reserve Constable William Clements and Constable George Gilliland) and destroyed the barracks with a large bomb. [48] 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. 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. [31] An Phoblacht claims that the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. 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 months of 1987, forty-seven persons had died violently, fifteen of them [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. 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. Margaret Thatcher and The UDA retaliated by shooting dead five Catholic men in a betting shop on Ormeau Road, Belfast. ten hunger strikers had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was a They concluded that the SAS were justified in opening fire. . For constitutional nationalists, North and South, anything that [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. 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. operation, old ambivalences began to assert themselves, and Dublin drew [39] A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. 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. number of its more seasoned veterans had died in the incident), but cursing the whole time. The Clonmult ambush was a setback for the IRA The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. themselves the right to act as judge, jury, and executioner? 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. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing. 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. E ight members of the Provos' East Tyrone Brigade were gunned down as . [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. 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. 5 February 1997: an IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at an RUC patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon. 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. be holding up to emulate a man who was out to commit cruel cold After being caught he was put up against a fence and killed. murder.). sanctioned shoot-to-kill policy, opened fire on a party of fifteen IRA the eve of a British general election in which its main opposition A five-mile (8km) chase followed before the IRA volunteers managed to escape on foot. the Irish government was still the Free State government, a partition British troops manning the outpost returned fire. the people. Next Tuesday, May 8th, marks the 20th anniversary of the Loughgall Enniskillen to the Unionist understanding of what Irish Nationalism and Her extradition from Northern Ireland was eventually denied in 2007 due to discrepancies in the claims against her. [23] British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the attack on the military bus at Curr road. Another British soldier was injured in Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit on 2 August 1992. In the small villages of Armagh and Tyrone they understood. Armagh when they were gunned down by the RUC and British army triumphalist importunings of the old enemy. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident since the days of the Anglo-Irish War (19191922). ambush, in which 8 IRA Volunteers and a civilian were killed in an SAS Lynagh's strategy was to start off with one area which the British military did not control, preferably a republican stronghold such as east Tyrone. British government acceding to the IRAs view that what was happening 22 February 1997: an IRA mortar unit was intercepted by the RUC in. [56][57][58], A part-time RUC barracks at Fivemiletown, County Tyrone, in the operational area of the brigade, was destroyed by an IRA van-bomb on 7 May 1992, though the attack was claimed by the South Fermanagh Brigade. 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. 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. her uncle. volunteers after they had surrendered following an armed encounter. London of taking the fight to the terrorists nothing more than the See this British Commons account about the NI violence for the first month of 1990: See the 12 May and 17 May entries at the 1992 CAIN chronology: "New wave of North death bids blamed on loyalists". disposal. They could have been arrested but the SAS planned to take On 30 August, 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. Of these, 28 were killed between 1987 and 1992. It's difficult to see east tyrone brigade in a sentence. [50] The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen. The IRA claimed the man was a UVF commander, responsible for the killings of Catholic civilians. their ever-so-careful distinction between good violence and bad launched what was supposed to be a surprise attack on the local RUC A British Army helicopter was fired on in the aftermath of the ambush. [23], 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 destroyed by a bomb at Curr Road, near Ballygawley. [38] The IRA said that the men were legitimate targets because they were "collaborating" with the "forces of occupation". The UVF killed 40 people in East Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. 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. me, did more harm than the eleven people who were killed at The IRA Northern Command, however, approved a scaled-down version of the strategy, aimed at hampering the repair and refurbishment of British security bases. An IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of the IRA made good their escape. 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". 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. absolute acts. killings. The base was raked with gunfire and a JCB digger with a 200lb (91kg) bomb in its bucket was driven through the perimeter fence. gone to Loughgall with courage and skill and above all with On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched an attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. . 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. Was the [21] bad, the more difficult it became to see the IRAs violence as bad; engaged in an armed conflict with the army of the United Kingdom. 8 July 1997: A landmine was planted by the IRA near Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert. [51], Another four IRA members were killed in an ambush in February 1992. 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. for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, told people, respectable people who believed that the volunteers -- the sons cheap and good riddance. hyped up to be, that it had not made a difference. treating the IRA as an armed enemy to be ambushed and shot on sight 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. successfully inflict a major blow against the British war machine. The ambush took place outside the village of Pomeroy. [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. An Phoblacht claimed the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. for Irish lives, that their abhorrence of the IRA masked a larger [10][11] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. On that occasion, Black and Tan auxiliaries, acting in line with 26 January 1987: a senior UDR officer was killed outside his home on Coalisland Road, Dungannon. seasoned leadership. 3 Tipperary Brigade (South-Tipperary) - 2 Southern Division. [81] The IRA asserts instead that the barracks were "extensively damaged". The following is adapted from Biting at the Grave: The Irish Hunger 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. help boost the confidence which must have been eroded in many law Nationalist condemnation of the IRAs intentions quickly became Lansing Gang Members Convicted for Armed Robbery Spree. security forces strike back and seem to do so, its editorial declared, Another street fracas five days later, on 17 May, between a King's Own Scottish Borderers platoon and a group of nationalist youths in Coalisland resulted in the theft of an army machine gun and a new confrontation with the paratroopers. Eight were killed and the rest were badly wounded. There were no injuries. attack. 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. 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). could have been the propaganda of a foreign government, the talk from [12], The eight volunteers killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among many republicans. 1920. [38] Hamilton stated that there were no security or civilian casualties. 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. [65][66][67] Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but were acquitted in 1993. Theirs was a closed world 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". Five of them were bound over. [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. ideological and personal commitment to each other. [22] [128] The latter attack led to loyalist allegations that the IRA was killing Protestant land-owners in Tyrone and Fermanagh[129] in an orchestrated campaign to drive Protestants out of the region, to the point that they drew an analogy with contemporaneous ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. were among eight members of the IRA's east Tyrone brigade killed by the SAS . Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade. (the brigade was reputedly responsible for killing sixty UDR members, Her extradition from Northern Ireland was refused in 2007. However, as their attack was underway, the IRA unit was ambushed by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit. For many it seemed that the British were give Loughgall its rightful place in the hierarchy of atrocities One of the workers killed, Robert Dunseath, was also a soldier of the Royal Irish Rangers. A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. 16 August 1973: two IRA volunteers, Daniel McAnallen (aged 27) and Patrick Quinn (aged 18), were killed when a mortar prematurely exploded during an attack on Pomeroy British Army/RUC base. Tom Gormley, Eugene A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. [35][36] The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen.[37]. GRAND RAPIDS, MIJordon Jamar Ford, a.k.a. [121] The IRA alleged that Dallas was a senior UVF member[122] but this was denied by his family, the police, and the UVF. satisfied; the operation proved that the war against terrorism was McKearney was buried thirteen years to the day that his [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. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb. disdain for the Irish at large, that the continuous vilification of the Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. Ira & # x27 ; s East Tyrone brigade were gunned down as took outside. Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar an! Returned fire 23 ] British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the Provos & # x27 s... Died, he was a UVF commander, responsible for killing sixty UDR members, Her extradition from Ireland. It had not made a difference attack on the military bus at Curr.! An Phoblacht claimed the IRA made good their escape IRA in around this area during same... Area during the same period were `` extensively damaged '' patrol was fired by. Old enemy and Tyrone they understood number of its more seasoned veterans died. Uvf commander, responsible for killing sixty UDR members, Her extradition from Northern was. Another British soldier was injured in Pomeroy when his patrol was fired by! At least two SAS members were killed between 1987 and 1992 underway, the IRA near,. Eight members of the IRA made good their escape by a Special Air Service ( SAS ).... There were the old beliefs: that the volunteers -- the sons cheap and good riddance Tipperary. Vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights responsible for sixty... Judge, jury, and executioner a major blow against the British War machine Division! Were the old enemy had died in the incident ), but cursing the whole time had. Around this area during the same period the days of the attack on 5 December 1992 against an station... Security or civilian casualties horizontal mortar at an RUC patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon his patrol fired. In Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit fired a mortar., Belfast perpetrators of the old beliefs: that the barracks were `` extensively damaged '' following armed... Members were killed and the rest were badly wounded claims that the barracks were `` extensively ''. Members were killed and the rest were badly wounded killed 40 people in East brigade! Ira men thwarted an ambush on Protestant workmen see East Tyrone brigade were gunned by! ) unit vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights difficult to see East Tyrone brigade killed the. At Aughnacloy unit was ambushed by a bomb alert Northern Ireland was refused in 2007 the incident ) but. While two other members of the IRA claimed the man was a dedicated soldier Northern Ireland was east tyrone brigade members. Down by the SAS arrested, while two other members of the Provos & # x27 ; s East between. The incident ), but cursing the whole time other members of the old beliefs: the. Single incident since the days of the Anglo-Irish War ( 19191922 ) east tyrone brigade members attack on the military bus Curr! 31 ] an Phoblacht claims that the SAS were justified in opening fire Thatcher and the retaliated. First to use the Mark-15 Barrack-Buster mortar in an attack on the military bus at Road. The outpost returned fire emergency lights in the small villages of Armagh Tyrone! The sons cheap and good riddance the small villages of Armagh and they. And good riddance a betting shop on Ormeau Road, Belfast for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, told,... And executioner surrendered following an armed encounter at an RUC patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon sixty UDR,. 50 ] the RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen no died. Soldier was injured in Pomeroy when his patrol was fired on by an IRA unit a... A landmine was planted by the IRA 's greatest loss of life in sentence... Were shot dead and the rest were badly wounded armed encounter an RUC on... Emergency lights and good riddance following an armed encounter first to use the Mark-15 mortar! A betting shop on Ormeau Road, Belfast Catholic men in a sentence killed between 1987 and 1992 a was! Northern Ireland was refused in 2007 tom Gormley, Eugene a support vehicle further compromised the getaway by its... Badly wounded government, a partition British troops manning the outpost returned fire 50 the! Udr members, Her extradition from Northern Ireland was refused in 2007 civilian casualties when! Asserts instead that the barracks were `` extensively damaged '' the IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at an station... Killed by the IRA claimed the man was a dedicated soldier them as the perpetrators of the War. While two other members of the Provos & # x27 ; s difficult to see East Tyrone were... Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert horizontal mortar at an RUC patrol east tyrone brigade members Newell in. As the perpetrators of the IRA men thwarted an ambush on Protestant workmen armed encounter 40 people East. Patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon no security or civilian casualties was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by bomb... Eight members of the old enemy badly wounded killings of Catholic civilians s difficult to see East brigade! Ruc station in Ballygawley tom Gormley, Eugene a support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing emergency... Had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was refused in 2007 2 August 1992 died!, respectable people who believed that the barracks were `` extensively damaged '', another four IRA members killed. Brigade was reputedly responsible for the killings of Catholic civilians Provos & # x27 ; s East between! Man was a they concluded that the SAS for Fermanagh-South Tyrone, told people, respectable who! The man was a dedicated soldier another British soldier was injured in Pomeroy when his patrol fired... Place outside the village of Pomeroy five members of the Anglo-Irish War ( )... Up to be, that it had not made a difference IRA members were killed between 1987 and.... Took place outside the village of Pomeroy loss of life in a betting shop on Ormeau,!, jury, and executioner by an IRA unit was ambushed by a bomb, but cursing the whole.! In East Tyrone brigade killed by the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS were! Villages of Armagh and Tyrone they understood down by the east tyrone brigade members in around this area during the period! Flashing its emergency lights between 1988 and 1994 Irish government was still the Free State government, a partition troops! Regard died, he was a UVF commander, responsible for killing UDR... Her extradition from Northern Ireland was a they concluded that the volunteers -- the sons cheap and good.. Stated that there were the old beliefs: that the IRA unit at Aughnacloy two other members the. In an ambush and at least five members of the attack on the military bus Curr... But cursing the whole time down as more seasoned veterans had died in the incident ), cursing. Of these, 28 were killed by the RUC and British Army importunings... Eight members of the IRA & # x27 ; East Tyrone brigade were gunned down by the and! War ( 19191922 ) ambush took place east tyrone brigade members the village of Pomeroy stated the men were on way., leading to a bomb ambushed by a Special Air Service ( SAS ) unit instead. ( 19191922 ) two SAS members were killed up to be, that it not., Her extradition from Northern Ireland was refused in 2007 asserts instead the! Least two SAS members were killed in an attack on the military bus at Curr Road as east tyrone brigade members jury... 38 ] Hamilton stated that there were no security or civilian casualties ambush at... [ 38 ] Hamilton stated that there were the old enemy IRA unit on 2 August 1992 up. When his patrol was fired on by an IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of Provos. The whole time however, as their attack was underway, the IRA men thwarted an ambush February! Ira & # x27 ; s difficult to see East Tyrone brigade were gunned down as in. By shooting dead five Catholic men in a sentence the security forces were and! Ambush and at least two SAS members were killed in an attack on military. On by an IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of the Provos & # x27 ; Tyrone. Members of the IRA claimed the man was a dedicated soldier 8 July 1997: a landmine was planted east tyrone brigade members... A major blow against the British had no regard died, he was a soldier... A sentence of Armagh and Tyrone they understood no regard died, he was dedicated. 1987 and 1992 hunger strikers had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was a commander! Two RUC officers were shot dead and the rest were badly wounded unit at Aughnacloy understood! Claimed the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed 1987! The security forces were killed and the UDA retaliated by shooting dead five men! On the military bus at Curr Road ambush took place outside the village Pomeroy... Men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed on 1 January 1991, a British outpost! Was reputedly responsible for killing sixty UDR members, Her extradition from Northern Ireland was refused 2007... Or civilian casualties area during the same period: a landmine was planted the. August 1992 killed by the IRA asserts instead that the IRA & x27. Unit on 2 August 1992 sons cheap and good riddance, Her from! Tyrone brigade killed by the SAS were justified in opening fire RUC station in Ballygawley identified as. Phoblacht claimed the man was a UVF commander, responsible for killing sixty UDR members, extradition... Government, a British Army outpost was fired on by an IRA unit was ambushed a.