On 9 April 1990, the South Down Brigade of the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reu ...

(IRA) detonated a massive

improvised Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

land mine A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...

under a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

convoy outside

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...

, County Down,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Four soldiers of the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

(UDR) were killed, the regiment's greatest loss of life since 1983.

Background

The Provisional IRA had been attacking British Army patrols and convoys with landmines and roadside bombs since the beginning of its campaign in the early 1970s. The deadliest attack was the Warrenpoint ambush of August 1979, when 18 soldiers were killed by two large roadside bombs near

Warrenpoint Warrenpoint ( ga, An Pointe) is a small port town and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It sits at the head of Carlingford Lough, south of Newry, and is separated from the Republic of Ireland by a narrow strait. The town is beside ...

, County Down. In July 1983, four soldiers of the local

(UDR) were killed when their vehicle struck an IRA landmine near

Ballygawley, County Tyrone Ballygawley or Ballygawly () is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is about 20 kilometres southwest of Dungannon, near the meeting of the A5 Derry–Dublin and A4 Dungannon–Enniskillen roads. Geography An American visitor in ...

. It was the UDR's biggest loss of life up until then.

Attack

On the morning of 9 April 1990, two UDR armoured landrovers were travelling from Ballykinler Barracks to Downpatrick. An IRA unit had planted a improvised landmine in a culvert under the Ballydugan Road, just outside the town. The unit waited in woodland overlooking the road, about away. As the landrovers drove over the culvert, the IRA detonated the bomb by command wire. The huge blast blew the vehicle into a field and gouged a large crater in the road, wide and deep. A witness described "a scene of utter carnage". Four soldiers were killed: Michael Adams (23), John Birch (28), John Bradley (25), and Steven Smart (23). It was the biggest loss of life suffered by the UDR since the 1983 Ballygawley landmine attack. The soldiers in the other landrover suffered severe shock and were airlifted to hospital. Police said a civilian driver also suffered shock and another received cuts and bruises.

Aftermath

The bombers escaped on a motorcycle which had been stolen in Newry a week earlier, and was later found abandoned in Downpatrick. The IRA issued a statement saying the attack was carried out by members of its South Down Brigade. British Prime Minister,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, said on BBC radio: ''You take these murders of these four people today alongside those decisions in the Supreme Court of the Republic not to

extradite Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

those accused of violent crime - and one is very, very depressed''.

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

, the

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...

of the Republic of Ireland, condemned the attack as an "atrocity". A 23 year-old man was later sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attack. He had driven a scout car for the bombers when it was planted the day before the attack.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downpatrick roadside bomb Explosions in 1990 Provisional Irish Republican Army actions 1990 in Northern Ireland Improvised explosive device bombings in Northern Ireland British Army in Operation Banner Military actions and engagements during the Troubles (Northern Ireland) The Troubles in County Down 1990 crimes in the United Kingdom April 1990 events in the United Kingdom