1993 Fivemiletown ambush | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner | |||||||
![]() A British soldier watching the scene of the ambush | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
![]() • East Tyrone Brigade [1] | ![]() • ![]() • ![]() | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2 active service units | 1 RUC mobile patrol 1 British Army helicopter | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | 2 constables killed | ||||||
Location within Northern Ireland |
On 12 December 1993, a unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) East Tyrone Brigade ambushed a two-men unmarked mobile patrol of the RUC in Fivemiletown, County Tyrone. Two constables (Andrew Beacom and Ernest Smith) were shot and killed instantly. A military helicopter was also fired at by a second IRA unit in the aftermath of the incident, during a follow-up operation launched in the surroundings of the town by both the British Army and the RUC. A number of suspects were questioned, but the perpetrators escaped successfully. The action occurred just three days before the Downing Street Declaration.
Fivemiletown lays in the western edge of the Clogher Valley, near the border between County Fermanagh and County Tyrone. [2] No deaths directly related with paramilitary activity had occurred there during The Troubles before the 1993 IRA shootings, [3] though there were a number of incidents in the region in the previous months.
On 7 May 1992, members of the IRA South Fermanagh Brigade detonated a 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bomb delivered by a tractor after crossing through a hedge outside the local RUC part-time barracks. The huge explosion left ten civilians wounded, and caused widespread damage to the surrounding property. The security base itself was heavily damaged, and the blast was heard from 30 miles away. [4] [5] According to a later IRA's statement, the destruction of the security base compelled the British forces to organise their patrols from the nearby RUC barracks at Clogher, allowing the East Tyrone Brigade to study their pattern and carry out the 1993 ambush at Fivemiletown's main street. [1]
A secondary incident occurred a some hours later, on 9 May, when a British soldier killed his company's sergeant major in a blue-on-blue shooting at the same place, while taking part of a security detail around the wrecked facilities. [6] [7] [8]
On 20 January 1993 the RUC base in Clogher was hit and severely damaged by a Mark-15 “barrack-buster” mortar bomb launched by the IRA's East Tyrone Brigade. A number of constables received minor injuries. [9] [10] [11]
Constable Andrew Beacom and Reserve Constable Ernest Smith were patrolling Fivemiletown's Main Street on a civilian-type, unmarked Renault 21 on the early hours of 12 December 1993. [12] Both men were part of the RUC Operational Support Unit, which surveilled the border along with the British Army. [13] The constables were based at Clogher RUC barracks. [12]
The IRA reported that two active service units from the East Tyrone Brigade had taken up positions in the centre of Fivemiletown and identified the RUC unmarked vehicle before the ambush. [1]
At 1:30 am, up to the junction of Main Street and Coneen Street, at least two IRA volunteers, [12] [1] opened fire from both sides of the road with automatic weapons, hitting the vehicle with more than 20 rounds. Beacom and Smith died on the spot. [12] Constable Beacom lived in Fivemiletown, just a hundred metres from the site of the ambush, where his wife owned a restaurant. She was one of the first persons to arrive to the scene of the shooting. [14] Smith resided with his family at Augher. [12]
According to a colleague in the Operational Support Unit, himself a reserve constable deployed at Linaskea and a former UDR soldier, their deaths “hit the unit very hard”. The men were appreciated for their in-depth knowledge of the area. [13]
A “major” follow up security operation was mounted between Fivemiletown and the border with the Republic of Ireland, [12] supported by airborne troops and RUC reinforcements, in an attempt to block the attackers getaway. [15]
Approximately an hour after the ambush, an Army Air Corps Lynx helicopter came upon a number of IRA volunteers in the searching area, just a few miles from the site of the shooting, but the aircraft became the target of automatic rifle fire and was forced to disengage. [16] [17] Though the helicopter wasn't hit, the assailants broke contact successfully. [17] The IRA East Tyrone Brigade report claims that the attack on the Lynx was carried out by a second active service unit, which set up a firing position on the predicted path of the British helicopters carrying reinforcements into Fivemiletown after the initial shooting. [1] A number of people was arrested and questioned about the killings, [15] but the perpetrators managed to slip away. [17]
The shootings were widely condemned. RUC Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley said that “At a time when the whole community is looking toward peace, the Provisional IRA has yet again shown they have absolutely nothing to offer but deaths and suffering. ” [12]
Presbyterian Moderator Rev. Andrew Rodgers called on the governments to break any contact with Sinn Féin and other “men of blood in both sections of the community.” [12]
A former IRA member cited instead the answer of an IRA volunteer in the area when questioned by him about the futility of the actions at Fivemiletown. He replied that “The war must go on”. [18]
The ambush and killing of the two constables at Fivemiletown was mentioned by Member of Parliament Ken Maginnis and Prime Minister John Major during the latter's speech to the House of Commons right after the joint Downing Street Declaration with Albert Reynolds, the Irish Taoiseach, that set the basis of the Northern Ireland peace process, on 15 December 1993, just three days after the attack. [19]
The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". 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.
Fivemiletown is a village and townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is 16 miles (26 km) east of Enniskillen and 26 miles (43 km) west-south-west of Dungannon, on the A4 Enniskillen-to-Dungannon road.
The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members, roughly half of them living south of the border. It has allegedly been commanded since the 1970s by Thomas 'Slab' Murphy who is also alleged to be a member of the IRA's Army Council. Compared to other brigades, the South Armagh IRA was seen as an 'independent republic' within the republican movement, retaining a battalion organizational structure and not adopting the cell structure the rest of the IRA was forced to adopt after repeated intelligence failures.
The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) launched an attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in the village. An IRA member drove a digger with a bomb in its bucket through the perimeter fence, while the rest of the unit arrived in a van and fired on the building. The bomb exploded and destroyed almost half of the base. Soldiers from the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) then returned fire both from within the base and from hidden positions around it in a pre-planned ambush, killing all of the attackers. Two of them were subsequently found to have been unarmed when they were killed.
On 13 December 1989 the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) attacked a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint complex manned by the King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSB) near the Northern Ireland–Republic of Ireland border at Derryard townland, a few miles north of Rosslea, County Fermanagh. The IRA unit, firing from the back of an armoured dump truck, attacked the small base with heavy machine-guns, grenades, anti-tank rockets and a flamethrower. A nearby Army patrol arrived at the scene and a fierce firefight erupted. The IRA withdrew after leaving a van bomb inside the complex, but the device did not fully detonate. The assault on the outpost left two soldiers dead and two 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.
The Ballygawley bus bombing was a roadside bomb attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a bus carrying British soldiers in Northern Ireland. It occurred in the early hours of 20 August 1988 in the townland of Curr near Ballygawley, County Tyrone. The attack killed eight soldiers and wounded 28. In the wake of the bombing, the British Army began ferrying its troops in and out of County Tyrone by helicopter.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from 1980 to 1989. For actions before and after this period see Chronology of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), from 1992 to 1999.
The Clonoe Ambush was a military action between the British Army and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) that occurred during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. On 16 February 1992, an IRA unit attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) security base in the village of Coalisland in County Tyrone, and was ambushed shortly afterwards by the Special Air Service (SAS) in the grounds of a church in the village of Clonoe whilst attempting to make its escape, resulting in several IRA fatalities.
On 11 February 1990, an active service unit of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade shot down a British Army Gazelle helicopter along the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It took place between Augher in County Tyrone and Derrygorry in County Monaghan. The helicopter was hit several times by heavy machine-gun fire and crash-landed on an open field, injuring three members of its crew of four.
The Coagh ambush was a military confrontation that took place in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, on 3 June 1991, during The Troubles, when a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service unit from its East Tyrone Brigade was ambushed by the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS) at the village of Coagh, in County Tyrone, whilst on its way to kill a part-time member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR). The ambush resulted in the deaths of all three IRA men involved.
The Mullacreevie ambush took place on 1 March 1991, when a mobile patrol of the Ulster Defence Regiment composed of two Land Rover vehicles was attacked with an improvised horizontal mortar by a Provisional IRA active service unit from the North Armagh Brigade while passing near Mullacreevie housing estate, on the west side of Armagh City. One member of the UDR was killed instantly when the leading Land Rover was hit, while another died of wounds two days later. Two other soldiers were maimed for life.
The following is a Timeline of British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) undercover operations during Operation Banner during the 1969 – 1998 Northern Irish conflict in Northern Ireland that resulted in death or injury. Including operations by the SAS, 14 Intelligence Company, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), RUC Special Patrol Group and Special Branch.
On 23 June 1988, an Army Air Corps (AAC) Westland Lynx, serial number XZ664, was shot down by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) near Aughanduff Mountain, County Armagh, in Northern Ireland. A unit of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade fired at the British Army helicopter using automatic rifles and heavy machine guns. The disabled helicopter was forced to crash-land in an open field; the aircraft and its crew were eventually recovered by British forces.
Throughout the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland (1960s-1998), the Provisional IRA developed a series of improvised mortars to attack British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) security bases. The organisation also purchased both light and heavy machine guns in order to hamper the British Army supply of border bases by helicopter. The IRA fitted vehicles, specially vans and trucks, with both types of weapons. Vans, trucks and tractors were modified to transport concealed improvised mortars to a launch area near the intended target and fire them, while light and heavy trucks were employed as firing platforms mounting machine guns, particularly M60s and DShKs. Improvised armoured vehicles and heavy equipment were also used to penetrate the perimeter of fortified security bases. The IRA vehicles were often disguised as belonging to civilian companies or even government agencies.
The 1990 Lough Neagh ambush was a gun attack carried out by the Provisional IRA on 10 November 1990 at Castor Bay, near Morrows Point, Lough Neagh, County Armagh, Northern Ireland targeting members of the security forces involved in a waterfowl hunting trip with other two men at the time. An active service unit of the IRA's North Armagh Brigade shot dead a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Inspector, an RUC Reservist, a former Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier and one civilian. Some members of the wildfowling party struggled with their attackers, and one of the constables returned fire before being killed.
This is a chronology of activities by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), in 1990 and 1991.
The Killeeshil ambush took place on 15 July 1994, when an armour plated vehicle of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was intercepted by a tipper lorry driven by a Provisional IRA active service unit from the East Tyrone Brigade and riddled with automatic rifle fire while travelling on the Dungannon Road at Killeeshil crossroads, in southern County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Three members of the RUC were wounded, as well as a Sinn Fein councillor from Clones, Republic of Ireland, who by chance had been arrested earlier at the Irish border and was being transported to Belfast. An elderly female motorist was also wounded. The action occurred a few weeks before the IRA ceasefire of August 1994.