The IRA wrongly claimed that he was a serving member of the, 18 May Gavin McShane (17) and Shane McArdle (17), both Catholic civilians, were shot dead by the, 21 May Reginald McCollum (19), an off-duty member of the, This page was last edited on 25 October 2022, at 17:26. [48] Thomas Murphy and the leadership of the IRA in the area have allegedly since re-asserted their control, expelling dissidents from the district under threat of death. Neighborhood North of Turnpike Subdivision Pleasant Park. childList: true, The man is said to have bought another substantial portion of farmland in Armagh. [10], However, the IRA campaign in the area did not begin in earnest until 1971. if (vars.article) { Receive today's headlines directly to your inbox every morning and evening, Please check your inbox to verify your details, Senior Tory begrudgingly backs Sunaks bitter pill Brexit deal as DUP split over support, Two further arrests over shooting of detective in Northern Ireland, DCI John Caldwell: Two further arrests made in attempted murder investigation, Belfast man jailed for crossbow attack over drink-and-drug debt, NI gambling addicts who swindled employers out of 170k spared jail, Time is of the essence to restore Stormont and seize opportunities McDonald, Mid Ulster eco home on offer to family rent-free for one year, Omagh sex offender faces new charges as alleged victims increase from three to 38, Meet the NI student whose business could help millions who suffer from skin conditions, National Fish and Chip Awards: Belfasts Fish City wins top accolade, Saoradh posts police officers picture and name after stop and search dispute, RBAI produce stunning second half display to see off Wallace and reach Schools Cup Final, Sammy Wilson criticises Windsor Framework and very dangerous King Charles meeting, Thug bailed days before murdering father-of-four Pat Ward, Rihanna has sparked a conversation about our role and rights when pregnant say NI working mums, Im being held hostage by my newborn baby who seems to know Im out of my depth, My moment of zen in Murlough Bay on the Causeway Coast, Portadown man in court accused of murdering three-year-old son, Four arrested in relation to DCI Caldwells attempted murder released unconditionally, DUPs Gregory Campbell calls on rigorous implementer parties to accept they were wrong about NI Protocol, DCI John Caldwell: The New IRA threat after Omagh shooting. } It was one of the few times the SAS didn't shoot members of an IRA 'active service unit' on armed operations. } 14 November Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) chairman of Armagh District Council and part-time major in the UDR Charles Armstrong is killed in a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb explosion as he sat in his car outside the council's headquarters at the Palace Demense. When they arrived, they were surrounded by 16 SAS men, who ordered them to surrender. The workers' bus was stopped and the one Catholic worker taken aside before the others were killed. In a statement released by the IRA at the time they denied any role in it. 8 November Adrian Carroll, a 24-year-old. Although from Armagh city, he was a member of the IRA's South Armagh Brigade. [19] This was the biggest single loss of life inflicted on the British Army in its deployment in Northern Ireland (Operation Banner). 3 May 56-year-old Robert Orr, an ex-member of the RUC, is killed when a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb explodes under his car as he drove along the Mall in the centre of Armagh. const subscriberCookieName = 'subscriber'; 1,168 Following. }; Other alleged illegal activities involve fraud through embezzlement of agricultural subsidies and false claims of property loss. He was eventually killed during an attack on the RUC barracks in Keady in November 1973. He was the 267th RUC officer to die in the Troubles. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. ","isAccessibleForFree":"True","isPartOf":{"@type":["CreativeWork","Product"],"name":"Independent.ie","productID":"independent.ie:showcase"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Independent.ie","item":"https://m.independent.ie/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Irish News","item":"https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/"}]} In case of an emergency, do not send message, dial 911. meteredAccess: purchase.metered_paywall, {"gigya.api.key":"4_CO8231Ix1RbYi2EmMbsrlw","gigya.screenset":"Default-RegistrationLogin","gigya.mobile.screenset":"Default-RegistrationLogin","gigya.authFlow.redirect":"true","gigya.check.enabled":"true","gigya.check.host":"gigya-check.independent.ie","competitions.submit.endpoint":"https://competitions-api.independent.ie/entries","competitions.api.key":"0b15feaa-62b2-45a2-8244-723a9e80748e","subscriptionwall.cookie-domain":".independent.ie","subscriptionwall.metered.missing.fields":"data.occupation,data.phone,data.salutation,data.yearofbirth,profile.firstName,profile.lastName","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.home-delivery":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/home-delivery/","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.premium-plus":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/premium-plus/","subscriptionwall.welcome_url.premium":"https://subscribe.independent.ie/welcome/premium/","kaching.enabled":"true","outbrain.kaching.enabled":"true","quantcast.enabled":"false","didomi.enabled":"true","newsletter.subscribe_url":"https://member.independent.ie/quicksubscribe/IN:Daily/subscribe","social-embed-consent-wall.enabled":"true","homepage.regional.sections.mapping":"Cork:regionals/corkman/:corkman,Dublin:regionals/dublin/:dublin,Kerry:regionals/kerryman/:kerryman,Louth:regionals/louth/:louth,Sligo:regionals/sligochampion/:sligochampion,Wexford:regionals/wexford/:wexford,Wicklow:regionals/wicklow/:wicklow","active_cmp":"didomi"} {"url":"https://shared.mediahuis.be/ka-ching/independent/ka-ching.umd.js?20210830","adunit":"m.independent.ie/Irish_News","targeting":{"art_id":"34944633","article_id":"34944633","kw":["South","Armagh","IRA","rocked","as","OC","is","outed","as","a","tout"],"gs_channels":["gs_notprocessed"],"article_type":"standard"},"platform":"MOB","pageType":"Article","lazyload":true} {"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"South Armagh IRA rocked as \u0026#039;OC\u0026#039; is outed as a \u0026#039;tout\u0026#039;","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Independent.ie","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://m.independent.ie/theme/_base/"},"@id":"independent.ie"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.independent.ie/incoming/65cdb/34944440.ece/AUTOCROP/w1240h700/provos.jpg","height":"700","width":"1240"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://www.independent.ie/"},"dateCreated":"2016-08-06T22:16:02.000Z","dateModified":"2016-08-06T22:40:34.000Z","datePublished":"2016-08-07T01:30:00Z","keywords":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://www.independent.ie/incoming/65cdb/34944440.ece/AUTOCROP/w1240h700/provos.jpg","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jim Cusack"},"description":"The second most senior IRA man in South Armagh is being \u0026#039;protected\u0026#039; amid claims that he worked as an agent for British intelligence, according to usually reliable security sources. const bundleValue = getBundleValue(purchase, 'app_purchase'); Forkhill or Forkill (from Irish: Foirceal) is a small village and civil parish in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland, in the ancient barony of Upper Orior. The barrack buster, fired from the back of a local baker's delivery van, exploded on the helipad shortly after the pilot had managed to take off. [23] This incident was investigated by the Smithwick Tribunal into alleged collusion between the IRA and the Garda. @OCFireRescue. } } subscriptionStartDate: purchase.granted_by_purchase.original_start_at, It is Pearse's message and it has not changed. 8 November 17-year-old Protestant Trevor Foster dies in a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb explosion meant for his father, a member of the UDR. Toby Harnden has interviewed members . return key.split('granted_by_')[1]; From that point onwards, the South Armagh 'OC' and his associates became millionaires while continuing to donate a reputed 25pc of their earnings to the 'movement'. Despite British watchtowers with sophisticated surveillance equipment across south Armagh from the mid-1980s, various ex-Irish and British security personnel agree that the . if (eventType === 'access_resolved' || eventType === 'access_resolved ') { The loyalties of many people in Northern Ireland's South Armagh are with the neighboring Irish republic. She was then carried out of the house and taken away in the boot of a car to Ballarat Street where she had her throat slashed back to the spine. Many men in the area served in the Fourth Northern Division of the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence (191921) and, unlike most of the rest of the Northern Ireland IRA, on the republican side in the Irish Civil War (192223). Welcome! [3] 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. vars.article.userWall = ! He had been in the garden of an RUC member's house and was getting ready to launch an attack on him when undercover soldiers shot him during a gun-battle. 13 April 38-year-old Territorial Army sergeant Trevor Elliott from Alexander Gardens in the city is shot dead by the Provisional IRA as he walked from his shop in Keady, south Armagh. Belton was shot and injured by other members of the patrol, but managed to flee to the Republic. vars.category.regionals = selectedRegional || ''; 15.5K Followers. T uesday marked. } Whilst security forces arrested some south Armagh republicans in 1997, republican . When there, Ms Smyth was followed upstairs by five men, who savagely beat and strangled her. He had charge of the IRA\u0026#039;s Border sniper team, which killed seven soldiers and two police officers in the 1990s.The team was eventually rounded up and arrested in an operation by the British Army\u0026#039;s SAS near Crossmaglen in April 1997. An IRA unit had taken over a house in Ogle Street and waited until the RUC foot patrol came into range of the 5 lb device. He had left the UDR the year before. [45], In 1997, several members of the South Armagh Brigade, based in Jonesborough and Dromintee, following Michael McKevitt, left the Provisional IRA because of its acceptance of the Mitchell Principles of non-violence at a General Army Convention in October of that year and formed a dissident grouping, the Real IRA, which rejected the peace process. document.cookie = subscriberCookieName + "=" + JSON.stringify(cookieData) + ';path=/;domain=' + domain + ';max-age='+cookieExpiryInSeconds; Discover your full benefits as a Premium subscriber. The single Mk-15 mortar bomb landed 40 yards (37m) short of the perimeter fence. The 'OC' is said to have bought another substantial portion of farmland in Armagh. } } else if (Object.keys(p.badge || {}).indexOf('epaper-access') > -1) { This was the last action of the IRA Armagh Sniper teams. Burrows came from Ballinahone Avenue in the city. He was due to retire in five weeks. Official information from Orange County Fire Rescue's Public Information Office. Around this time IRA engineers in South Armagh pioneered the use of home-made mortars which were relatively inaccurate but highly destructive.[14]. 24 February - Reginald Williamson, a 46-year-old RUC member from Armagh, is killed when a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb explodes under his car near the village of Loughgall. Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Bob Buchanan were returning from a meeting with the Garda Sochna in the Republic of Ireland, where they had been discussing a range of issues including ways of combating IRA attacks on the cross-border rail link, when they were ambushed. // Regionals Container , South Armagh IRA is killed on active service during an attack on Keady barracks. Photograph: Mirrorpix/Getty Images "And almost overnight the smugglers of South Armagh, under the control of the IRA, started bulk-buying . return { Sorry, we couldn't find what you're looking for. From that point onwards, the South Armagh \u0026#039;OC\u0026#039; and his associates became millionaires while continuing to donate a reputed 25pc of their earnings to the \u0026#039;movement\u0026#039;. subscriptionStatus: purchase.granted_by_app_purchase.sku_code, Wed 17 Sep 2014 11.51 EDT. The South Armagh Brigade retaliated for the deaths of the hunger strikers by killing five British soldiers with a mine that destroyed their armoured vehicle near Bessbrook. Harnden, Toby (1999). 3 March Herbert Burrows, a 37-year-old Protestant civilian, is killed when a Provisional IRA booby-trap bomb which was attached to a door at his Alexander Road funeral parlour exploded, killing him instantly. Watch: Peter Crouch sings the Fields of Athenry with Liverpool fans in Dublin pub, Senior Tory begrudgingly backs Sunaks bitter pill Brexit deal as DUP split over support, Teachers union claims it was excluded from new pay talks, Jay Blades made chancellor of former university and receives honorary doctorate, Badenoch clashes with MPs over menopause discrimination law, Search teams using every resource they can in hunt for Constance Martens baby. [35] The shooting down of the Lynx in 1994 during a mortar attack on Crossmaglen barracks is regarded by Toby Harnden as the most successful IRA operation against a helicopter in the course of the Troubles. if (isGrantedBy('app_purchase')) { document.cookie = subscriberCookieName + "= ; path=/;domain=" + domain + ";expires = Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 GMT"; A . The Sunday Independent has learned that the South Armagh 'OC' was outed as a 'tout' earlier this year and that shortly afterwards an IRA bodyguard team was sent from Belfast to ensure that no attack was made on the man in order to save embarrassment for the 'movement'.