Strabane ambush

Strabane ambush
Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner
Near the ambush site
Date 23 February 1985 Location Strabane, County Tyrone Northern Ireland 54°49′48″N7°28′12″W / 54.83000°N 7.47000°W / 54.83000; -7.47000 Result British victory
Belligerents
Provisional IRA IRA West Tyrone Brigade	United Kingdom British Army (SAS)
Commanders and leaders
Charles Breslin   †	Unknown
Strength
3 IRA Volunteers	8 soldiers
Casualties and losses
3 killed	None
class=notpageimage| Ambush at Strabane

The Strabane Ambush was a British Special Air Service ambush against a three man Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) unit. All three members of the IRA unit were killed in the ambush. At the time it was the most successful SAS operation against the IRA, until the Loughgall ambush two years later in 1987 in which eight IRA volunteers were killed. ^[1]

Background

Strabane was one of the IRA's most deadly strongholds during The Troubles. IRA and Irish National Liberation Army Volunteers in Strabane carried out attack after attack against the British security forces; between 1971 and 1991 16 attacks were launched by Irish Republicans against British troops and RUC police which resulted in the death of at least one member of the British security forces in each of those attacks, the British Army and RUC bases in Strabane were constantly attacked with sniper fire, bombings, grenades, mortar attacks and RPG attacks. Strabane was once the most bombed town in Europe in proportion to its size, and was the most bombed town in Northern Ireland. ^{[2] [3]}

A few weeks earlier in December 1984, the Special Air Service (SAS) carried out two ambushes against the Provisional IRA Derry Brigade which killed four IRA volunteers, in the first in the Kesh ambush Kieran Fleming and another IRA volunteer was killed, four days later Kieran's cousin William Fleming and Danny Doherty were killed in another ambush. ^{[4] [5]}

Ambush

On the 23 February 1985, an IRA active service unit while returning weapons or bringing new weapons to an arms cache in Plumbridge Road in Strabane were suddenly ambushed by British Army SAS unit and all three IRA volunteers were killed on the spot. ^[6] Local witness said they heard that no warning to surrender was given by the SAS as the men entered a field which is when the SAS unit fired over 100 rounds at the Volunteers killing them instantly. ^[7] The IRA volunteers killed at Strabane were Michael Devine (22), David Devine (16), the youngest IRA volunteer killed in the conflict, ^[8] and his brother and unit Commander Charles "Charlie" Breslin (21). ^[9]

Breslin was a volunteer in the West Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army from Strabane, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. ^{[10] [11] [12] [13] [14]} There were claims that the deaths were part of a wider British government "shoot-to-kill" policy in which republican paramilitaries were summarily executed without any attempt at arrest. ^{[13] [15] [16]}

The families of the three IRA members that were killed claimed they were ambushed after a stake out by the SAS. In February 1987, a pathologist at the inquest stated two of the victims had been shot 28 times, mostly while on the ground, and that the third victim had been hit on the bridge of the nose. All three had single bullet wounds to the head. ^[17]

An undisclosed amount of compensation was awarded to the families of the three IRA volunteers by the Ministry of Defence on 7 May 2002, as part of a Belfast High Court settlement brought as a result of the shootings. ^[17] In February 2005, in excess of a thousand people went to the graveside of Charles Breslin and the Devine brothers to mark the 20th anniversary of the shooting and hear an oration given by Gerry Adams. Members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland were accused of desecrating the graves of the volunteers, although Superintendent Raymond Murray of the PSNI denied that they had any involvement. ^{[18] [19] [20]}

Aftermath

This ambush was the first in several high-profile SAS and undercover soldier ambushes and operations between 1985 – 1992 especially targeting the IRA's units around the Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh borders. A year later the IRA's Fermanagh commander Séamus McElwaine was killed during an ambush, ^[21] and in 1987 eight volunteers from the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade were killed in the Loughgall ambush, ^[22] in 1988 three volunteers were killed during Operation Flavius in Gibraltar, ^[23] that August three more IRA men were killed in the ambush at Drumnakilly, ^[24] in 1991 three more volunteers were killed in the Coagh ambush ^[25] and finally in February 1992 in the Clonoe ambush four IRA volunteers were killed. ^[26]

See also

• Ambush at Drumnakilly
• Loughgall ambush
• Coagh ambush
• Clonoe ambush
• The Troubles in Strabane

References

1. Neville, Leigh (2016) The SAS 1983–2014 Bloomsbury Publishing, p.15. ISBN   1472814053
2. "Strabane town centre baseline report | Strabane Town Centre Regeneration Masterplan" (PDF). 8 September 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
3. "How one gay bar changed attitudes in rural N Ireland". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
4. "British Troops Ambush And Kill 2 I.R.A. Men". New York Times . 7 December 1984. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
5. Lost Lives, 2007 edition, p. 1002, ISBN   978-1-84018-504-1
6. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1985". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
7. "23 February 1985 – Three Strabane IRA Volunteers cut down by hail of SAS bullets". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
8. I nDil Chuimhne - Tirghra: Ireland's Patriot Dead pp.270 - 272
9. "Saoirse rally in Strabane". An Phoblacht. 13 August 1998. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
10. "Speech by Gerry Adams at a commemoration for IRA Volunteers Michael Devine, David Devine and Charles Breslin, (20 February 2005)". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
11. "CAIN Sutton Index of Deaths - 1985". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
12. Friel, Laura (13 July 2000). "Enemies of the state". An Phoblacht. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
13. Rayment, Sean (6 November 2005). "SAS prevented an outrage but now fears prosecution". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
14. "AROUND THE WORLD; British Troops Kill 3 I.R.A. Guerrillas". The New York Times. 24 February 1985. p. 5. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
15. Tírghrá. National Commemoration Centre. 2002. p. 270. ISBN   0-9542946-0-2.
16. "Strabane inquest - further revelations". An Phoblacht. 13 March 1997. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
17. "Families awarded money over SAS shootings". UTV News. 7 May 2002. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
18. "Irish minister accuses Adams of IRA role". politics.co.uk. 21 February 2005. Archived from the original on 15 March 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
19. McKinney, Seamus (23 February 2005). "Police desecrated graves — Sinn Féin". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2024– via nuzhound.com.
20. "Thousands attend Breslin/Devine 20th Anniversary Commemoration in Strabane". An Phoblacht. 31 March 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
21. Urban, Mark (1993). Big Boys' Rules: SAS and the Secret Struggle Against the IRA. Faber and Faber. pp. 218–219. ISBN   0-571-16809-4.
22. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1987". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
23. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1988". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
24. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1988". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
25. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1991". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
26. "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1992". cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 November 2018.

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).