One soldier was seriously wounded. 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. McGeough points to the "huge statement" last week by David Davis, the UK's Brexit secretary formally, secretary of state for exiting the European Union who said that Northern Ireland would not have to reapply for EU membership as a new state if it voted for reunification with the Republic. At least two British soldiers were severely wounded in action near Cappagh[66] and Pomeroy[70] in 1992. 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. There were four members of the Provisionals from East Tyrone searching my house, and they . [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). 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. Since June 2016, when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, there has been much speculation about the risk to the Northern peace process. This is the story of the war in the fields, towns and villages of East Tyrone, as told by the people who fought it. They concluded that the SAS were justified in opening fire. I just mean in terms of chaos and upheaval political, economic and otherwise.. IRA veterans Brexit feature - pix Colm Lynagh and Tommy McKearneyFormer republican prisoner Colm Lynagh (left) and former Provisional IRA hunger striker Tommy McKearney in Monaghan Town. [60], 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. [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. Journalist Ian Bruce, instead, claims that an Irishman who served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit, citing intelligence sources. 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. They dont throw away remarks like that.. He would be the longest-serving volunteer in this position, right up to the 1997 ceasefire.[148]. McGeough is a supporter of the peace process and now president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Co Tyrone. One British soldier was wounded. 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). This was the last action by the Brigade before. 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. 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. 10 February 1997: A horizontal mortar fired by an IRA unit hit an RUC armoured vehicle leaving a security base. [10][11] It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. 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. Taken: April 5th, 2017. "It was never going to be delivered by the normal means, by the Irish themselves, but it could come about through the break-up of the so-called United Kingdom," he says as he sits in an armchair in his living room, in front of shelves of history books that reflect his past studies at Trinity College Dublin and his background in teaching. As well as RAAD, the alliance includes an east Tyrone group thought to be responsible for killing PSNI officer Ronan Kerr in 2011, . [107][108], There were also a number of roadside bomb and mortar attacks thwarted by the security forces in east and south Tyrone in this period. Loughgall ambush 8th of May 1987 SAS Ambush Eight members of the IRA's so-called 'East Tyrone brigade' Eight members of the IRA's so-called 'East Tyrone brigade' were shot dead by the SAS. The ambush that left Tyrone Volunteers Kevin Barry O'Donnell, Patrick Vincent, Sen O'Farrell and Peter . In addition, the IRA in Tyrone was the target of an assassination campaign carried out by the loyalist paramilitaries of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). Eight members of the IRA's so-called 'East Tyrone brigade' were shot dead by the SAS in a fierce gun battle at Loughgall on 8 May 1987. Simon Carswell. [82][86], A brigade statement claims that late on the evening of 26 April 1993, a "variation" of the Mark-15 was fired at a British Army position on an open field near the river Fury, a few miles east of Clogher. Neither republican sees a great prospect of a united Ireland after Brexit. The base was raked with gunfire and a JCB digger with a 200lb (91kg) bomb in its bucket was driven through the perimeter fence. 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. [10] Lynagh's plans met strong criticism from senior brigade member Kevin McKenna, who regarded the strategy as "too impractical, too ambitious, and not sustainable" according to journalist Ed Moloney. 11 August 1986: The East Tyrone Brigade destroyed the RUC base at, 23 November 1986: six British soldiers were wounded after the Brigade launched seven mortars at a British Army barracks in. The RUC patrol returned fire. He believes that Brexit will instead encourage various shades of dissenting republicans to engage politically and that there is a chance of a postsectarian debate among unionists, republicans and nationalists, north and south, about what is in the best economic and sovereign interests for both parts of the island. Euroscepticism had a long history in the area, he says, before Ireland went into the EU. 22 February 1997: an IRA mortar unit was intercepted by the RUC in. Three of the four are convicted killers or have served time in relation to a killing. It is hugely insulting, Lynagh says as he picks nicotine gum from a wrapper. 9 July 1997: IRA gunmen hijacked and burned a number of vehicles at Dungannon. In July 1983, the East Tyrone Brigade carried out a landmine ambush on an Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) mobile patrol near Ballygawley, killing three UDR soldiers (a fourth UDR soldier died later). [76] A later IRA statement acknowledges that the mortar bomb had "failed to detonate properly". . Of these, 28 were killed between 1987 and 1992. Six attackers gathered on the same spot afterwards. The former IRA volunteer served 18 years in the Maze prison for the murder of a UVF man in Belfast in February 1976. [55][56][57], Six paratroopers were charged with criminal damage in the aftermath, but they were acquitted in 1993. Other attendees were. Dozens of residents were evacuated to a neighbouring church's hall. But the reality is that it is going to be more and more obvious, Lynagh says. IRA volunteers had been lying in wait outside the barracks and, as the officers left, two gunmen stepped out of concealed positions and shot both officers in the head from close range. [68], At least two minor engagements occurred in the following weeks between members of the brigade and British Army foot patrols. Major George Shaw, a 57-year-old father of two, worked full-time for the MOD and was a part-time soldier. [78], On 30 March 1993, one of the brigade units claimed they thwarted a British undercover operation by detonating an explosive device in the Glen, between Loughmacrory and Mountfield, near the spot where the British personnel were hidden. Their brothers, Pdraig McKearney and Jim Lynagh, were among eight members of the IRA's east Tyrone brigade killed by the SAS during an attack on an RUC station in the Protestant village of. Lynagh is irked by the way political parties in the Brexit debate are portraying people in the Border counties as lawless Irish, similar to the people of Pakistans tribal areas, with a pathological predisposition to violence who will rush out and go to war again because they cant stand the sight of customs posts. [49], On 3 June 1991, 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. [25] British military sources also report that other IRA volunteers from East Tyrone were involved in the assault. [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. 13 July 1984: IRA Volunteer Willie Price was killed by the SAS while carrying out an incendiary bomb attack on a factory in Ardboe. Along with Lynagh and McKearney, the IRA gang included Gerard O'Callaghan, 29, Tony Gormley, 25, Eugene Kelly, 25, Patrick Kelly, 30, Seamus Donnelly, 19, and Declan Arthurs, 21. No casualties were reported. Five Sinn Fin cumainn, and 90% of the East Tyrone Brigade, left in the move. They are saying to us: if you want to go down that road we are not going to step in your way. 25 Feb/23. [38] Hamilton stated that there were no security or civilian casualties. 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. [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. The operation. On 1 January 1991, a British Army outpost was fired on by an IRA unit at Aughnacloy. From the Sunday Tribune. He was sentenced to 20 years in 2011 but was released after two years, under the Belfast Agreement. Tusk has said that the EU will seek "flexible and creative solutions" to avoid a hard Border. The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in The Birches attack. e The Troubles The Coagh Ambush was a controversial incident that took place on 3 June 1991, when a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit from the East Tyrone Brigade was ambushed by the Special Air Service (SAS) in the village of Coagh, County Tyrone. This in response to a complaint from DUP AssemblymanWilliam McCreaaccusing the GAA of turning a blind eye to "republican terrorist" events in the last years. 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". UTV News Report: In Pomeroy an IRA horizontal mortar hit an RUC car but failed to explode. [73], The brigade was the first to use the Mark-15 Barrack-Buster mortar in an attack on 5 December 1992 against the RUC station in Ballygawley. He was arrested on the night of the count by the PSNI for the attempted murder of a part-time UDR soldier in 1981. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during the . The embarrassment is that a customs man might arrive and show that there is a Border.. There were no injuries. Fifty people were evacuated. [18] In August 1988, an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte, Martin Harte and Brian Mullin. He is now president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Co Tyrone. Gerry McGeough is a prominent republican and former member of the provisional IRA and now a farmer in Co. Tyrone. . [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. An inquest into their deaths. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident since the days of the Anglo-Irish War (19191922). [93], 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. It is going to be very embarrassing for a lot of Irish political parties that almost pretended that partition was going. A second IRA rifle team fired at a British Army Lynx helicopter sending in reinforcements to the area over the surroundings of Fivemiletown. Three constables and Treanor were wounded,[106] as well as a passing-by ederly female motorist whose car was hit by the RUC vehicle. A former IRA leader in east Tyrone has disputed claims that loyalists and republicans reached an "understanding" after a secret meeting in the early 1990s. For younger. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during its campaign. [17] The checkpoint was stormed and two British soldiers killed in action. I dont see any bloodshed coming from our side. [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]. The standout example is the SAS shooting of eight East Tyrone IRA members whilst the IRA attacked Loughgall RUC station in 1987. Toggle navigation. 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, 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. 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