The so-called "Loughall Martyrs" were a group of eight men from the Provisional IRA's East Tyrone Brigade who, after conducting a series of guerrilla attacks, were ambushed and killed on May 8 1987 by British special forces, the SAS.

Membership

The East Tyrone Brigade consisted of:

• "Commander" Patrick Kelly (aged 32)
• Declan Arthurs (aged 21)
• Seamus Donnelly (aged 19)
• Michael Gormaley (aged 25)
• Eugene Kelly (aged 25)
• Jim Lynagh (aged 31)
• Pádraig McKearney (aged 31)
• Gerry O'Callaghan (aged 29)

Strategy

The IRA in East Tyrone and other areas close to the border such as South Armagh had been following a Maoist military theory devised for Ireland by Jim Lynagh, the leader of the IRA in East Tyrone. The theory was that by starting off with one area which the occupying military did not control, and then by expanding gradually until the desired land was acquired, a paramilitary organisation could control any area of land as long as no enemy forces could retake the "zones of liberation" as they were called. The South Armagh area was considered to be one of those zones and thus it was from there that these attacks were launched, with most of them occurring in East Tyrone in areas close to South Armagh which had good escape routes and the opportunity to expand these zones.

Previous attacks

Two attacks occurred on RUC bases in East Tyrone. Each attack began with driving a JCB digger with a 200lb bomb in its bucket through the reinforced fences the RUC had around their bases, then exploding the bomb and raking the barracks with gunfire. On these two occasions the barracks had been destroyed, and most or all of the occupants killed. So it was with some confidence that the IRA tried the same attack on the Loughall RUC barracks.

The ambush

The SAS, however, had set a meticulous trap to kill the unit (having intercepted a telephone call concerning the attack), and had placed an SAS soldier inside the barracks as a bait. A squad of 24 soldiers split into six groups.

The SAS claim to have returned fire immediately after the attack commenced, riddling the PIRA JCB and a following van (that contained the rest of the unit) with bullets. Civilian Anthony Hughes, 36, was killed and his brother badly wounded when they were caught up in the crossfire. All eight PIRA men were killed, all from head wounds, when the soldiers fired more than 600 bullets - it was later revealed that one of the dead PIRA men was in fact an informant for the British government, although this has been disputed by many journalists who claim that the information on the unit was gained from electronic survelliance. The PIRA men fired 70 bullets and did not hit a soldier. The SAS held a celebration party after the ambush. SAS operations against PIRA continued well into the 1990s.

Court decision

The IRA men, along with others, were ruled by in 2001 by the European Court of Human Rights to have had their human rights violated by the failure of the British government to conduct a proper investigation into the circumstances of the deaths.

External links

• Folk song about the "Loughall Martyrs"
• BBC News: IRA deaths: The four shootings
• Daily Mail article