Attack on Ballygawley barracks
Attack on Ballygawley RUC barracks | |||||||
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Part of The Troubles | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Patrick Joseph Kelly | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 active service units | 5 constables | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None |
2 killed 3 wounded |
On 7 December 1985 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base at Ballygawley, County Tyrone. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb, which wounded a further three officers.
Background
In 1985,
The attack
The attack involved two IRA
The assault was launched on Saturday 7 December at 18:55,
The republican IRIS Magazine (#11, October 1987) described the attack as follows:
One volunteer took up a position close to the front gate. Two RUC men opened the gate and the volunteer calmly stepped forward, shooting them both dead at point blank range. Volunteers firing AK-47 and Armalite rifles moved into the barracks, raking it with gunfire. Having secured the building they planted a 100 lb bomb inside. The bomb exploded, totally destroying the building after the volunteers had withdrawn to safety.[11]
The first British Army unit to arrive at the base in the wake of the attack was X Company, 1st Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers.[12]
Aftermath
The attack was one of the Provisional IRA's biggest during this period. Twelve days later the same IRA brigade mortared the RUC station at Castlederg badly damaging the base and injuring four people.[13] The Ballygawley base was rebuilt by the Royal Engineers in 1986.[14]
The East Tyrone IRA launched two similar attacks in the following years: the successful attack on the Birches base in 1986, and the ill-fated attack on the Loughgall base in 1987, in which eight IRA members were killed. Ballygawley itself had seen conflict before with the Ballygawley land mine attack in 1983, and would see more violence in 1988 with the Ballygawley bus bombing, that cost the lives of eight British soldiers. The gun taken from Constable Clements was found by security forces after the SAS ambush at Loughgall.[15]
The RUC base at Ballygawley was once again targeted by the East Tyrone Brigade on 7 December 1992, in what became the debut of the IRA's brand new Mark-15 improvised mortar, better known as "Barrack Buster". The mortar failed to go off.[16][17][18][19] Another attack with a horizontal mortar occurred on 30 April 1993, when an RUC mobile patrol leaving Ballygawley compound was targeted.[20] According to an IRA statement, the projectile missed one of the vehicles, hit a wall and exploded.[21]
See also
- Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions (1980-1989)
- Ballygawley bus bombing
- Clive Barracks bombing
- 1993 Fivemiletown ambush
- The Troubles in Ballygawley
References
- ISBN 0-14-101041-X.
- ^ An Phoblacht, 28 July 2005
- ^ "Northern Ireland Bloody Day". Time. 11 March 1985. Archived from the original on 24 May 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2007.
- ^ Faber and Faber. p. 221.
- ISBN 978-0-7475-5806-4.
- ISBN 0-85342-991-X.
- ^ Excerpt from "Sons of Guns", chapter 11 of Families at War by Peter Taylor (1989). PBS.org
- ^ a b Taylor, Peter. Provos: The IRA & Sinn Féin. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998. p.270
- ^ RUC memorial
- ^ ISBN 1-57500-061-X
- ^ Murray, Raymond. The SAS in Ireland. Mercier Press, 1990. p.379
- ^ "Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment history". Archived from the original on 15 April 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2008.
- ^ "Mortar attack on police station". UPI. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- ^ Heathwood news chronology. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN)
- ISBN 0-571-16809-4
- ISBN 0-413-77223-3
- ^ The Irish Emigrant, 1 February 1993
- ^ "New IRA mortar threat", Sunday Tribune, 7 March 1993.
- ^ "Barrack Buster Bomb". indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org. The Irish People. 13 February 1993. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
- ^ Sunday Life, 2 May 1993.
- ^ "Patrol Mortared In Tyrone". indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org. The Irish People. 15 May 1993. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
Further reading
- Moloney, Ed: A Secret History of the IRA. Penguin Books (2002).
- Urban, Mark: Big Boys' Rules: The SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA. Faber and Faber (1992).