east tyrone ira members

The RUC officer, William Logan (aged 23), who was driving the police patrol vehicle was mortally wounded and died the following day, he was the first RUC officer killed by the brigade. . I think a lot of the concerns are exaggerated, says Tommy McKearney, an IRA volunteer originally from Moy, in Co Tyrone, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for killing a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier in 1976. 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. [26] 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. [83] The IRA asserts instead that the barracks were "extensively damaged". He does not see republican militarism rising up again over a post-Brexit hardening of the Border or a customs presence on country Border roads, although he does believe that it would hit an atavistic nerve among people who have grown accustomed to freedom of movement across the Border. In December 1973 he is badly injured in a premature bomb . We have been neglected, McKearney says, citing patchy broadband in parts of Co Monaghan as an example. An IRA volunteer was arrested, while two other members of the IRA made good their escape. 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]. [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. There may be little bits here and there, or attempts here and there, but nothing significant.. [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. After being caught he was put up against a fence and killed. 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. As well as RAAD, the alliance includes an east Tyrone group thought to be responsible for killing PSNI officer Ronan Kerr in 2011, . Two more McKearney brothers died in the Troubles. Over 50 shots were fired by the unit. No efforts were made to conceal the firing position or the machine gun. Three of the four are convicted killers or have served time in relation to a killing. [65][66][67] Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but were acquitted in 1993. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing. The two men have a long personal history linked to a time and territory around the Border that witnessed some of the regions bloodiest episodes. "[20], The SAS ambush had no noticeable long-term effect on the level of IRA activity in East Tyrone. They are saying to us: if you want to go down that road we are not going to step in your way. At least two British soldiers were severely wounded in action near Cappagh[66] and Pomeroy[70] in 1992. He would later serve as a member of Fianna Fil during the 1930s. 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). [114], Three active members of the security forces were killed by the East Tyrone Brigade during this period. Of these, 28 were killed between 1987 and 1992. A second IRA rifle team fired at a British Army Lynx helicopter sending in reinforcements to the area over the surroundings of Fivemiletown. [95] The fortified[96] courthouse in Cookstown was meanwhile damaged by two bombs planted there on 15 October 1993. There is very, very little appetite among republican circles in the North for a resumption of any armed campaign. [40][41], On 1 January 1991, a British Army checkpoint was fired on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. The next day the IRA threatened any contractor who took on repair of the station. There will always be a handful of people, but there is nothing can be done about that in any society. [79] An RUC report confirms that a bomb exploded close to a combined RUC-British Army patrol in the area. [13], In December 2011, the Historical Enquiries Team found that not only did the IRA team fire first but that they could not have been safely arrested. The heavy projectile landed at the rear of the small base without exploding, forcing the evacuation of Coronation Park housing state. [50] The RUC stated the men were on their way to mount an ambush on Protestant workmen. (RAAD), an east Tyrone republican group, and a group of previously non-aligned republican dissidents from Belfast. [123] The IRA alleged that Dallas was a senior UVF member[124] but this was denied by his family, the police, and the UVF. [22] [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. However, as their attack was underway, the IRA unit was ambushed by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit. [12], The eight volunteers killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among many republicans. 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. [117][115] 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][118]. This is the infrastructure that the European Union has created, and concentrating on a customs post in Aughnacloy is taking us off the core argument.. This is the story of the war in the fields, towns and villages of East Tyrone, as told by the people who fought it. 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. [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. Transforming the Peace Process in Northern Ireland: From Terrorism to Democratic Policies, IRA The Bombs and the Bullets: A History of Deadly Ingenuity, The Provisional IRA in England: The Bombing Campaign 1973-1997, Loyal to the Core? The European Union is as much of an imperial power as if not more than Britain at the moment, Lynagh says. [119] Two of the wounded were also off-duty UDR soldiers. east tyrone brigade members. The soldiers were being transported from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh after returning from leave in England. But they wanted to form a rival force that could have wrecked all peace hopes, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. [61], At least five members of the security forces were killed by the IRA in around this area during the same period. Now he has a doctorate in political science and writes a lively blog, the Pensive Quill, firing off opinions on the peace process, among other topics, and offering a platform to others. Six IRA members from a supporting unit managed to escape. [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. jim martin death couples massage class san diego beaver falls football east tyrone brigade members. We are an unruly people, and if there is an opportunity to be unruly again we will take it, but it will not be violence, he says. He voted for Brexit in the hope that it would lead to a united Ireland through the disintegration of the UK. McGeough is a supporter of the peace process and now president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Co Tyrone. [15][16] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. Their brothers, Pdraig McKearney and Jim Lynagh, were among eight members of the IRAs east Tyrone brigade killed by the SAS during an attack on an RUC station in the Protestant village of Loughgall, in Co Tyrone, in May 1987. [49] 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. [101][102] The East Tyrone Brigade reported that they took over the area between the checkpoint and the border, set a roadblock, then drove a tractor carrying the mortar to the firing point and issued a 30-minute warning. 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. The IRA responded by killing senior UVF man and former UDR member Leslie Dallas on 7 March 1989,[46][47] but the UVF shot dead three IRA members and a Catholic civilian in a pub in Cappagh on 3 March 1991. [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. . In 1987, an East Tyrone IRA unit was ambushed and eight of its members killed by the SAS while bombing an RUC base at Loughgall, County Armagh. 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. British military sources reported that other IRA volunteers from East Tyrone were involved in the assault. I dont mean that in terms of violence. [27][28] 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. Lynagh, a fellow republican, served eight years, from 1982 to 1990, in Portlaoise Prison over a charge related to the killing of a nightclub bouncer in Monaghan in 1981. He has vivid childhood memories of seeing the Moy Bridge and the road to his grandmothers home in Monaghan lying in the Blackwater River after being blown up the night before by B Specials members of the Ulster Special Constabulary quasi-military reserve. [41] One British soldier was wounded. 26 February 1978: IRA Volunteer Paul Duffy was killed by the SAS in Coagh. Both share left-wing views and believe that the interests of Border counties are not being well served by the European Union. [91][84], 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. [103] 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. [23] British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the attack on the military bus at Curr road. [130] The latter attack led to loyalist allegations that the IRA was killing Protestant land-owners in Tyrone and Fermanagh[131] 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. The oldest child in a Catholic family of five, Kelly was born in the largely Protestant town of Carrickfergus. [42][43] On 26 March, an IRA unit firing a light machine gun disrupted a UDR mobile checkpoint at Lurgylea road, north of Cappagh. These are among the surprising views expressed by a number of former hard men of republicanism, interviewed by The Irish Times for their unique insights into the thorny issues of Brexit and Northern Irelands future. A second shooting took place in the village of Pomeroy on 28 June, this time against British regular troops. [134]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. It was the biggest single loss of life for the republican movement during the conflict. He thinks it would be silly of the British to build a hard Border again and potentially stir up those tensions. Why would article 50 change that? says McKearney. [113] An IRA man was taken in custody in Newtownstewart, west Tyrone, on 10 July 1993, after being injured during a mishap while testing an improvised mortar in a barn near Dungannon. Why would article 50 change that? 7 September 1981: two RUC officers (Mark Evans and Stuart Montgomery) were killed when their patrol vehicle struck an IRA landmine at Sessadonaghy, near. Another brother, Kevin, and Tommy's uncle John, neither of whom was in the IRA, were killed by loyalist paramilitaries from the Ulster Volunteer Force in an attack on the family's butcher's shop, in Moy, in January 1992. [77], The commander in chief of the brigade,[78] Kevin MacKenna, was also appointed 'chief of staff' of the IRA in 1983. McKearney and Lynagh are dissenters, not dissidents; although they support the peace process they object to the policies pursued by Sinn Fin and some of their former comrades who moved into politics. Another four IRA members were killed in an ambush in February 1992. 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 NEW REPORT by Relatives for Justice into a British Army SAS ambush in 1992 that left four Tyrone IRA Volunteers dead says the men were killed in "a premeditated and pre-planned" attack when they could have been arrested instead. [68], At least two minor engagements occurred in the following weeks between members of the brigade and British Army foot patrols. The ambush took place outside the village of Pomeroy. Stephen Fuller (d. 1984), a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence and fought with Anti-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War (1922-23). The loyalist gang operating in east Tyrone at the time used several weapons between 1988 to 1994, including R18837. There were no casualties. [88][89], The RUC security base at Caledon became the target of the "Barrack Busters" twice. 8 July 1997: A landmine was planted by the IRA near Dungannon, leading to a bomb alert. The soldiers were being transported from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh after returning from leave in England. Fifty people were evacuated. Three constables and Treanor were wounded,[106] as well as a passing-by ederly female motorist whose car was hit by the RUC vehicle. I dont see that., It is going to be very embarrassing for a lot of Irish political parties that almost pretended that partition was going. 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. He considers threats of a return of the British army to Border towns like Aughnacloy as a cheap shot and the recent pantomime of mock Border checkpoints and anti-Brexit protesters dressing up in customs-officer uniforms as the hysterical interpretation of what may happen. [19][unreliable source? Of these, most were Catholics civilians with no paramilitary connections but six were Provisional Irish Republican Army members. [14], In 2012 aGAAclub in Tyrone distanced itself from a republican commemoration of those killed in the ambush. 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. [5] Lynagh's plans met strong criticism from senior brigade member Kevin McKenna, who regarded the strategy as "too impractical, too ambitious, and not sustainable" in the words of journalist Ed Moloney. The armed vehicle crossed the border after the engagement. [80], 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. [81] The facilities targeted by "Barrack Buster" mortars included the above-mentioned Ballygawley barracks, a British Army border outpost at Aughnacloy,[82] the RUC barracks at Clogher[83] and Beragh,[82] both resulting in massive damage but no fatalities; two attacks on the RUC base in Caledon, which was also hit by gunfire in the second attack,[83][84] and the RUC compounds at Dungannon,[85] Fintona,[83] Carrickmore,[83] and Pomeroy. Patrick Joseph Kelly (19 March 1957 - 8 May 1987), was the Commander of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the mid-1980s until his death in a Special Air Service ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987. G Bill Gannon George Gilmore in Co Tyrone, on November 29 1989. O'Donnell had been released without charges for possession of weapons on two different occasions in the past. The Gazelle broke up during the subsequent crash-landing. 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After the engagement four are convicted killers or have served east tyrone ira members in to! The oldest child in a premature bomb was born in the village of Pomeroy is as much an. Later serve as a member of Fianna Fil during the conflict on the military bus at Curr.! Fence and killed armed vehicle crossed the border after the engagement always be a handful of people, but is. Brexit in the North for a resumption of any armed campaign the European Union is much.
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