On 2 October 1975, the

loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

group the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) carried out a wave of shootings and bombings across Northern Ireland. Six of the attacks left 12 people dead (mostly civilians) and around 45 people injured. There was also an attack in a small village in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

called Killyleagh. There were five attacks in and around Belfast which left people dead. A bomb which exploded in

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

left four UVF members dead. There were also several other smaller bombs planted around Northern Ireland (16 in total) but other than causing damage they did not kill or injure anyone.

Background

There was a rise in sectarian killings during the Provisional IRA truce with the British Army, which began in February 1975 and officially lasted until February 1976. Loyalists, fearing they were about to be forsaken by the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

and forced into a united Ireland,Taylor, Peter (1999). ''Loyalists''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.142 increased their attacks on

Irish Catholics Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

Irish nationalists Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

. Loyalists killed 120 Catholics in 1975, the vast majority civilians.Taylor, Peter. ''Brits: The War Against the IRA''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001. p.182 They hoped to force the IRA to retaliate and thus end the truce. Some IRA units concentrated on tackling the loyalists. The fall-off of regular operations had caused unruliness within the IRA and some members, with or without permission from higher up, engaged in tit-for-tat killings.

The attacks

In the first attack of the day on Casey's Bottling Plant in Belfast; four employees were shot and killed in the attack, sisters Frances Donnelly (age 35), Marie McGrattan (47) and Gerard Grogan (18) all died that day, with a fourth, Thomas Osborne (18), dying of his wounds three weeks later. The UVF group, which was alleged to have been led by Shankill Butchers leader Lenny Murphy, had entered the premises by pretending to have an order to be filled before launching the attack. Murphy personally shot all except Donnelly who was killed by his accomplice William Green. The two sisters were forced to kneel on the ground and were shot in the back of the head. In the next attack Thomas Murphy (29), a Catholic photographer from Belfast, was killed in a booby-trap bomb and gun attack, when two UVF gunmen entered his premises on Carlisle Circus (close to both the loyalist Shankill Road and republican

New Lodge New Lodge may refer to: *New Lodge, Winkfield near Windsor, Berkshire, England *New Lodge, South Yorkshire, England *New Lodge, Belfast, an area of North Belfast, Northern Ireland *New Lodge, Billericay, association football ground in Billericay, E ...

areas of Belfast) and shot him in the chest, before planting a duffel bag bomb in his shop. The resulting explosion injured several people including a female passer-by who lost her leg. Next the UVF carried out a gun and bomb attack on McKenna's Bar near Crumlin in County Antrim which killed a Catholic civilian John Stewart (35) and injured scores of people. In Killyleagh,

, a no-warning bomb exploded outside a Catholic-owned bar, The Anchor Inn. Irene Nicholson (37), a Protestant woman, was killed as she was passing by while the attack was being carried out. Three UVF members were later arrested for this attack in Bangor and one of them claimed the attack was "a small one to scare them". Next Ronald Winters (26), a Protestant civilian, was shot dead by the UVF in his parents' house on London Road, Belfast. Later at night four UVF members were killed in

when the bomb they were transporting exploded prematurely.

Aftermath

The next day on 3 October the UVF was once again made a proscribed terrorist organisation. Northern Ireland Secretary Merlyn Rees had unbanned the UVF in May 1974 (the same day the ban on Sinn Féin was lifted, a move never extended to the IRA). Despite this the UVF were still able to kill Catholic civilians at will for the rest of 1975 and for most of 1976 also.

External links

Sources

CAIN project

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Northern Ireland attacks Explosions in 1975 1975 in Northern Ireland 1975 murders in the United Kingdom 1970s in County Antrim 1970s in County Down 1970s in County Londonderry 1970s mass shootings in the United Kingdom Explosions in Belfast Explosions in County Antrim Explosions in County Down Explosions in County Londonderry Improvised explosive device bombings in Northern Ireland Mass murder in 1975 Mass murder in Belfast Mass shootings in Belfast Murder in County Antrim Murder in County Down 1975 crimes October 1975 events Northern Ireland attacks Terrorist incidents in Belfast Terrorist incidents in County Antrim Terrorist incidents in County Down Terrorist incidents in County Londonderry Terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom in 1975 1970s murders in Northern Ireland 1975 murders in Ireland The Troubles in Belfast The Troubles in County Antrim The Troubles in County Down The Troubles in County Londonderry Ulster Volunteer Force actions Terrorist incidents in Ireland in the 1970s