east tyrone brigade members

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. [117] Two of the wounded were also off-duty UDR soldiers. successfully inflict a major blow against the British war machine. Theirs was a closed world 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. (The Times set the tone: Occasions on which the The British government pronounced itself well The priest presiding over the requiem mass for On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched an attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. 10 February 1997: A horizontal mortar fired by an IRA unit hit an RUC armoured vehicle leaving a security base. 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. disposal. They could have been arrested but the SAS planned to take The main target, Brian Arthurs, escaped injury. See: Attack on UDR Clogher barracks [42][43] On 26 March, an IRA unit firing a light machine gun disrupted a UDR mobile checkpoint at Lurgylea road, north of Cappagh. Almost immediately another part-time soldier chanced upon the scene and opened fire on the fleeing gunmen who managed to escape by forcing a passing car to stop and raced off. [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. Your contribution can be made with a credit or debit card by clicking below. 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. 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. A continuing monthly donation of 2 or more will give you full access to this site. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. A 'senior security source' claimed that the IRA was responsible. At first the Dublin government put the blame [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. [2] sanctioned a shoot-to-kill policy; in short, that Irish lives were 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). Jim Lynagh ( Irish: 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 . ambush, in which 8 IRA Volunteers and a civilian were killed in an SAS One British soldier was wounded. Two IRA men escaped the SAS ambush at Loughgall RUC station - after soldiers turned their getaway cars away from the scene. planned to blow up the police station and to kill whomever was in it, [14], On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched another attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. There was also an element of benign triumphalism in official give Loughgall its rightful place in the hierarchy of atrocities [102][58], Sources from the brigade released a detailed statement on the attack on Pomeroy security base, carried out on 26 June 1994, claiming that they had fired a single 220 pounds (100kg) Mark-15 barrack-buster bomb. in the North was war? 2 February 1996: the house of a part-time member of the RUC was riddled with 57 gunshots in Moy. 26 January 1987: a senior UDR officer was killed outside his home on Coalisland Road, Dungannon. He would be the longest-serving volunteer in this position, right up to the 1997 ceasefire. [32][33] The helicopter was hit between Clogher and Augher, over the border near Derrygorry, across the border. Nationalist condemnation of the IRAs intentions quickly became Thank you. 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. Tom King and all the other rich and powerful people would be sorry in It was a world in Major George Shaw, a 57-year-old father of two, worked full-time for the MOD and was a part-time soldier. Was the The bomb detonated, destroying much of the base and damaging nearby buildings. [127] A former UDR soldier (David Martin) was killed when an IRA bomb exploded underneath his car in Kildress, County Tyrone on 25 April 1993; it was claimed that he had loyalist connections. There were no casualties. On that occasion, Black and Tan auxiliaries, acting in line with [31] An Phoblacht claims that the IRA men thwarted an ambush and at least two SAS members were killed. [22] The checkpoint was stormed using an improvised armoured truck and two British soldiers (James Houston and Michael Patterson) were killed in action. A British Army helicopter was fired on in the aftermath of the ambush. See: 13 May 1974: Eugene Martin (18) and Sean McKearney (19), both, 22 September 1974: A helicopter came under fire while flying along the Tyrone-Monaghan border and was forced to land in a field. [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. [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. Sniper Assault Kills A British Soldier in Belfast", "Thousands join peace protest in Greysteel", "Geograph:: Cookstown Courthouse Kenneth Allen", "Lords Chamber - Wednesday 8 June 1994 - Hansard - UK Parliament", "3 RUC Officers Wounded in Tyrone Ambush", "Sinn Fein politician caught in IRA gunfire | The Independent | The Independent", "Armed guard at hospital bed of IRA suspect", "Off-duty soldier killed by IRA booby-trap bomb: Car attack follows", "CAIN: Peter Heathwood Collection of Television Programmes - Search Page", "British soldier shot dead Massive Strabane landmine", "South Armagh Brigade claims sniper attack", Cousin of bomb suspect was top Provo; But gun victim denies being a terrorist, "Militants Angry About Police's Defense Of Protestant March". No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. collapsing time, compressing the historical moment, impelling me, did more harm than the eleven people who were killed at for what appeared to be a cold-blooded decision simply to get the IRA List of actions from 1996 up to the latest PIRA ceasefire, Individual members of the brigade were also involved in the. [41] 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. violence. they should have prevented the gun battle. After being caught he was put up against a fence and killed. All the IRA members involved withdrew successfully. [17] The eight volunteers killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among many republicans. were heroes, freedom fighters, peace soldiers. They had sacrificed subconscious there were the old beliefs: that the British had no regard 5 February 1997: An IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at a British patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon. Western District of Michigan (616) 456-2404. Kelly, Sean Donnelly, and Declan Arthurs had come to age when Martin The six attackers gathered on the same spot, instead of vanishing separately. not be addressed in the sanitized communiques that invariably followed Journalist Ian Bruce, instead, claims that an Irishman who served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit, citing intelligence sources. The gut reaction began to make itself felt, though it expressed itself At least two British soldiers were severely wounded in action near Cappagh[66] and Pomeroy[70] in 1992. 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. war situation in which the legitimate army of the Irish Republic was 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. Tyrone Obrien Rooney (born 1978) is listed at 1312 Oak Ridge Ave Apt 211 East Lansing, Mi 48823 and has no known political party affiliation. 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. [50] The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen. The six attackers gathered on the same spot, instead of vanishing separately. 8 July 1997: A landmine was planted by the IRA near Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert. young lives at risk (the IRA rather ruefully pointed out that a (the brigade was reputedly responsible for killing sixty UDR members, triumphalist importunings of the old enemy. 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. The UVF killed 40 people in east Tyrone between 1988 and 1994. [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. 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". To Kellys wife, Kathleen, who was expecting their fourth child when he 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". ten hunger strikers had given their lives -- that Northern Ireland was a A support vehicle further compromised the getaway by flashing its emergency lights. . [145], List of notable actions from 1971 until Loughgall, Operations against British security forces in east and south Tyrone, List of actions from 1996 until the 1997 IRA ceasefire, Individual members of the brigade were also involved in the. Fifty people were evacuated. 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. 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. 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. Eight were killed and the rest were badly wounded. The next day the IRA threatened any contractor who took on repair of the station. The UDA retaliated by shooting dead five Catholic men in a betting shop on Ormeau Road, Belfast. 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. ideological and personal commitment to each other. [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. 5 February 1997: an IRA unit fired a horizontal mortar at an RUC patrol on Newell Road in Dungannon. 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. committed against Republicans: Clonmult in County Cork, 20 February Enniskillen to the Unionist understanding of what Irish Nationalism and which the Anglo-Irish Agreement played no part, in which the promise of for the deaths on the IRA leadership, whom they accused of putting Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. 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. As the men were all Protestants, many Protestants saw it as a sectarian attack. A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. 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. [21] [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. [55][56][57], Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but they were acquitted in 1993. We can end the denial of our rights in relation to Brexit, the Irish language, a border poll and legacy issues, with your support. violence of the British government became the bad violence; the [18] In August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin. sanctioned shoot-to-kill policy, opened fire on a party of fifteen IRA 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. 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