Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks
Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks | |
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Part of Bombing, shooting | |
Deaths | 5 civilians |
Injured | 26 |
Perpetrators | UVF, RHC and UDR members as the Glenanne gang |
Locations of attacks | |
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During the evening of 19 December 1975, two coordinated attacks were carried out by the
Attacks
According to journalist Joe Tiernan, the attacks were planned and led by
The attack was planned at the Glenanne farm of RUC reserve officer James Mitchell which was where most terrorist acts were planned by the gang and the farm also acted as a UVF arms dump and bomb-making site. After the attacks were finished everyone involved in both attacks was to meet at Mitchell's farm. Then if there was any heat Mitchell could claim the bombers and shooters were with him when the attacks happened.[7]
The first phase of the plan started at around 18:15 along Crowe Street in Dundalk when a 100-pound no-warning bomb exploded in a
At around 21:00(9:00PM), about three hours after the Dundalk bombing, the second phase of the coordinated plan began. It was led by McConnell and took place at Donnelly's Bar & Filling Station in the small Armagh village Silverbridge, close to Crossmaglen.
The unit arrived in two cars and came unusually fast towards the pub. The publican's son Michael Donnelly (14) was serving petrol to a customer. He noticed the strange speed of the cars. He tried to run towards the pub, but McConnell jumped out of one of the cars and shot the teenage boy dead with a
Then a second gunman, believed to be Billy McCaughey, a UVF volunteer and member of the RUC Special Patrol Group, shot dead a second person, local man Patrick Donnelly (no relation to the pub owner's family) who had been waiting for petrol. McConnell then went inside the pub and sprayed the bar with his Sten SMG, killing a third man, Trevor Bracknell, and seriously injuring three more people.
As McConnell withdrew to his car, two other members of the unit carried a 25-pound cylinder bomb inside the pub. As McConnell's unit fled back to Mitchell's farm, the bomb detonated inside the pub. However by this time most of the people had already fled.[12][13][14][15][16]
See Also
References
- ^ Sutton, Malcolm. "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
- ^ "The Cassel Report (2006), cain.ulst.ac.uk; retrieved 28 September 2013" (PDF).
- ^ Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland - Conclusions, PatFinucaneCentre.org; accessed 7 May 2015.
- ^ "Crowe's Nest | Talk of the Town". Talkofdatown.wordpress.com. Dundalk. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ^ Jim Cusack/Henry McDonald - UVF: The Endgame p.166
- ^ Harnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. - "After Dean was killed, some Army commanders concluded that it was not worth risking the lives of soldiers to prevent an IRA roadblock being set up." page 172
- ^ The Barron Report (2003), pp. 144–145.
- ^ "Families would welcome an inquiry". Irish Independent. 29 December 2000. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
- ^ Joe Tiernan: The Dublin and Monaghan Bombings And The Murder Triangle (2006) pp.226.
- ^ belfastchildis (18 December 2015). "19th December – Deaths & Events in Northern Ireland Troubles". Belfast Child. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ "Newshound: Daily Northern Ireland news catalog - Irish News article". www.nuzhound.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Murphy, Clare. "Victims' families demand access to RUC files". The Irish Times. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ "Statement from the families of those murdered at Donnelly's Bar, Silverbridge, outside Kay's Tavern, Dundalk and in the Reavey and O'Dowd homes | The Pat Finucane Centre". www.patfinucanecentre.org. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ "'If this doesn't outrage you what will?'". independent. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ admin (6 March 2007). "Ann Brecknell V. UK". Madden & Finucane Solicitors. Retrieved 19 December 2020.