Ambush in Lafgall

The East Tyrone brigade of the Provisional IRA controlled the eastern part of the county of Tyrone and the neighboring territories of the county of Armagh, becoming by the mid-1980s the most combat-ready detachment of the Irish rebels. Brigade members Jim Lina and Patrick McKirney devised a strategy for destroying military and police bases without the possibility of rebuilding them in order to “level the British army” ^{[3] [7]} . In 1985, gunman Patrick Joseph Kelly led the brigade and set about implementing this strategy: in 1985 and 1986, he launched two attacks that, according to Mark Urban, were “impressive” ^[8] - this is a battle in the Belligowey barracks on December 7, 1985 and the battle at the Royal Ulster Police Base in Burches (Armagh County) on August 11, 1986 . In both cases, the militants fired at the bases and their garrison, and the buildings themselves were destroyed by bombing (in Burches, they rammed a barrier wall on an excavator, inside which explosives were hidden ^[7] ). A similar attack was planned for the easily fortified base in Lafgall ^{[7] [9]} .

However, the British secret services revealed the plans of the conspirators ^[4] , presumably due to the action of special forces of the army and police ^[7] . According to some reports, the data on the attack was transmitted by a double agent from the IRA camp, which was killed by special forces in an ambush ^[10] ; according to other sources, the special services did not implement any agent and acted using old proven methods ^[11] . On May 7, a detachment of 36 SAS soldiers (Special Air Force) and officers from the mobile support group at the headquarters of the Royal Ulster Royal Police secretly arrived at the base ^[3] . Most of the soldiers and officers were inside the base buildings, one group was outside the base, the remaining parts were on the site of the alleged movement of the IRA militants ^[4] .

The IRA attacked two teams: one controlled an excavator with a bomb and had to destroy the building, the other had to arrive in a minibus and shoot the survivors at the base ^[2] . According to the plan, all the militants were to hide in a minibus ^[2] . Both vehicles were hijacked shortly before the attack: the Toyota HiAce minibus was found in Dungannon, and the excavator was found two miles west of Loughgall on the Lieslesley Road farm (two Irish fighters remained on the farm to monitor the owners of the hijacked excavator). Declan Arthurs was appointed the driver of the excavator, two fighters drove an escort car in front of him, the rest of the rebels rode in a minibus (probably also with an escort car) ^[2] .

The militants arrived in Loughgall from the northeast side after 19:00 ^[2] . All the militants were well armed and equipped: they wore body armor, protective suits, gloves and balaclava ^[2] . Several times they previously traveled around the reconnaissance site ^{[2] [4]} . At 19:15, Declan Arthurs sent the excavator to the base, accompanied by Gerrard O'Callahan and Tony Gormley ^[2] . In the tank on the excavator was a seven-tex bomb weighing 90 kg, which was detonated 40 seconds after activation. Inside the car were the squad commander Patrick Kelly , as well as the militants Jim Lina, Patrick McKirney, Eugene Kelly and Sheimus Donnelly. The excavator broke through the barrier net, drove a few meters forward, and the explosive device was launched immediately. The militants jumped out of the excavator and, according to intelligence agencies, opened fire on the building ^[4] (some authors, among whom Raymond Murray stands out, deny this) ^[2] . SAS commandos immediately fired back from machine guns M16 , HK G3 and L7A2 . The bomb exploded, destroying the excavator and injuring three operatives ^[12] . According to the militants, 1,200 bullets were fired: the minibus also came under fire ^[2] . The militants fired back, according to some reports, 70 bullets and never hit targets ^[13] .

Eight IRA militants were killed in a shootout: their bodies were riddled with bullets, but headshots were fatal ^{[2] [14]} . One of the militants, Seamus Donnelly, tried to escape from the base on a football field opposite the road, but did not have time and was mortally wounded ^[2] . According to some reports, three of the militants were ready to surrender to the special forces, but were shot on the spot ^[15] . According to a note by Jim Kasak in the newspaper The Irish Times on June 5, 1987 , the rebels who were in escort vehicles hastened to escape from the scene of the shootout and thereby escaped ^[2] . As a result of the battle, two more civilians came under fire: Anthony and Oliver Hughes were returning from work and were mistakenly mistaken by operatives for the IRA militants, as they were in suits of the same blue color as the Irish rebels. Anthony, who was driving, was killed on the spot, and Oliver was badly wounded ^[2] . Over 50 bullets were fired at them from the side of the garden ^[2] . Local residents were not previously warned about the operation, since the British could accidentally notify the IRA, so no evacuation was carried out ^[5] . The British government was forced to pay compensation to the widow of Anthony ^{[2] [16]} .

On the battlefield, the British picked up the following weapons: three HK G3 assault rifles , an FN FAL assault rifle , two FN FNC rifles, a Franchi SPAS-12 rifle and a Ruger Security Six revolver. According to the Royal Ulster Police, no fewer than 19 murders were carried out from these weapons in Central Ulster ^[1] , and the Ruger revolver was stolen from police officer William Clement who was killed two years earlier ^[17] . One of the victims of this weapon was Harold Henry, who helped to equip the bases of the British army and police in Northern Ireland ^[18]

The East Tyrone Brigade, despite the losses incurred, did not lay down its arms until the Belfast Agreement . Attempts by the IRA to determine who turned out to be the mysterious “double agent” who issued their plans for the attack on Loughgall were unsuccessful ^[10] . Among the Irish Republicans, eight people were killed and became known as the “Loughgall Martyrs” ( Eng. Loughgall Martyrs ) ^[19] . According to the relatives of the victims, the British intelligence services have long hunted for these militants and thereby organized the massacre. Thousands of people attended the funeral of eight Irish rebels: this was the largest funeral since the Irish hunger strike of 1981 ^[20] . At the funeral, Jerry Adams stated that the British can put pressure on the Irish government, but they will never be able to win the conflict. ^[21] The leadership of the Interim IRA also confirmed that several of the Irish rebels were captured and shot without trial. ^[22]

In 2001, the European Court of Human Rights , when considering claims from relatives of the deceased Irish, unexpectedly ruled that the killing of all eight Irish rebels was a crime on the part of the British government, and there was no proper investigation, and decided to award compensation in the amount of 10 thousand pounds to each of the relatives of the victims ^[23] . John Reid , who was then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, welcomed the decision. ^[14] In December 2011, however, the Northern Ireland Historical Investigation Team, after rechecking the case, stated that the SAS had reason to shoot, since the IRA fighters opened fire first, and it was not possible to arrest them without threat to life ^[24] .

The police station was rebuilt and handed over to the police in 2001, but in August 2009 it was closed and converted into a residential building ^[25] , and in April 2011 it was resold ^[26] .

In 1988, The Pogues recorded the song Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six . ^[27] . Charlie and The Bhoys recorded another song about the Loughgall Ambush battle ^[28] .

• Timeline of the Provisional Irish Republican Army
• Battle of the Ballygowley Barracks
• Ballygowley Bus Explosion
• Attack on a checkpoint in Darriard
• Ambush in Clonow
• Assault on colisland

• Special Air Service (SAS) - Loughgall, Northern Ireland
• The best anti-terrorism special forces in the world. SAS. At the service of Her Majesty (Russian)