The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of

Loughgall Loughgall ( ; ) is a small village, townland (of 131 acres) and civil parish in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the historic baronies of Armagh and Oneilland West. It had a population of 282 people (116 households) in the 2011 Census. ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

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 ...

. An eight-man

unit Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (alb ...

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 reun ...

(IRA) launched an attack on the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC)Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Royal ...

(RUC) base in the village. An IRA member drove a digger with a

bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...

in its bucket through the perimeter fence, while the rest of the unit arrived in a van and fired on the building. The bomb exploded and destroyed almost half of the base. Soldiers from the

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 ...

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

(SAS) then returned fire both from within the base and from hidden positions around it in a pre-planned

ambush An ambush is a long-established military tactics, military tactic in which a combatant uses an advantage of concealment or the element of surprise to attack unsuspecting enemy combatants from concealed positions, such as among dense underbru ...

, killing all of the attackers. Two of them were subsequently found to have been unarmed when they were killed. A civilian was also killed and another wounded by the SAS after unwittingly driving into the ambush zone and being mistaken for IRA attackers. The joint British Army/RUC operation was codenamed Operation Judy.Brown, Andrew. ''The Difficult War: Perspectives on Insurgency and Special Operations Forces''. Dundurn, 2009. pp. 132–133MacKenzie, Alastair. ''Special Force: The Untold Story of 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (SAS)''. p. 319 It was the IRA's biggest loss of life in a single incident during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

Background and preparations

The IRA's East Tyrone Brigade was active mainly in eastern

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

and neighbouring parts of

. By the mid-1980s it had become one of the IRA's most aggressive formations. Members of the unit, such as

Jim Lynagh Jim Lynagh ( ga, Séamus Ó Laighneach; 13 April 1956 – 8 May 1987) was a member of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), from Monaghan Town in the Republic of Ireland. Background One of twelve children, Ly ...

and

Pádraig McKearney Pádraig Oliver McKearney (18 December 1954 – 8 May 1987) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitary. He was killed during a British Army ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987, aged 32. He had 15 years of service as a ...

, advocated a strategy of destroying bases and preventing them being rebuilt or repaired in an attempt to "deny ground" to British forces. In 1985,

Patrick Joseph Kelly Patrick Joseph Kelly (19 March 19578 May 1987), was an Irish commander of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the mid-1980s until his death in a Special Air Service ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May ...

became its commander and began implementing the strategy. In 1985 and 1986, it carried out two major attacks on Royal Ulster Constabulary bases. The first was an attack on the RUC barracks in Ballygawley on 7 December 1985, in which two police officers were shot dead. The second was an attack on an RUC base at The Birches on 11 August 1986. In both attacks, the bases were raked with

machine-gun A machine gun is a automatic firearm, fully automatic, rifling, rifled action (firearms)#Autoloading operation, autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as Automatic shotgun, a ...

fire and then severely damaged with homemade bombs. In the attack at The Birches, they had breached the base's perimeter fence with a digger that had a bomb in its bucket; it was planned to use the same tactic in an attack on the lightly-manned Loughgall base. The British security forces however had received intelligence weeks prior to the attack of the IRA's plan and at least 10 days before of the target. It has been alleged that the security forces had a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organi ...

inside the IRA unit, and that he was killed by the SAS in the ambush. Other sources claim that the security forces had instead learned of the planned attack through other surveillance methods, such as a telephone tap. According to historian and former Professor of Politics at

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

Richard English Richard Ludlow English (born 1963) is a Northern Irish historian and political scientist from Northern Ireland. He was born in Belfast. He studied as an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford, and subsequently at Keele University, where he w ...

, information of the attack had not come from within the unit, though Tony Gormley was known to security forces as a well-paid

Special Branch Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security and Intelligence (information gathering), intelligence in Policing in the United Kingdom, British, Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, ...

informant. Three local RUC officers worked at the station, which was only open part-time, from 09:00 to 11:00, and from 17:00 to 19:00 daily. On the day of the attack, two RUC

Headquarters Mobile Support Unit The Headquarters Mobile Support Unit (HMSU) is the police tactical unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The HMSU was originally formed in the then Royal Ulster Constabulary part of RUC Special Branch, Special Branch and was involved in ...

(HMSU) officers were placed in the station to accompany the local RUC officer who was to carry on the normal running of the station. The HMSU was the RUC's

police tactical unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. A police tactical unit's tas ...

. Six SAS soldiers in plain clothes, including the commander, were positioned inside. Another eighteen SAS soldiers in uniform were hidden in five locations in wooded areas around the station. The IRA's attack involved two teams. One team was to drive a digger with a bomb in its bucket through the base's perimeter fence and light the fuse. At the same time, another team would arrive in a van and open fire on the base, with the aim of killing the three RUC officers as they came off duty. Both teams would then leave the area in the van. To avoid security checkpoints, the bomb was ferried by boat across

Lough Neagh Lough Neagh ( ) is a freshwater lake in Northern Ireland and is the largest lake in the island of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. It has a surface area of and supplies 40% of Northern Ireland's water. Its main inflows come ...

, from

Ardboe Ardboe () is a large parish civil parish in east County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It borders the western shore of Lough Neagh and lies within the Mid Ulster District Council area. It is also the name of the local civil parish, which incorporate ...

Maghery Maghery ()Placenames NI
is a small

. The van and digger that would be used were hijacked in the hours leading up to the attack. The van, a blue

Toyota HiAce The (pronounced "High Ace") is a light commercial vehicle produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. First launched in October 1967, the HiAce has since been available in a wide range of body configurations, including a minivan/ ...

, was stolen by masked men from a business in

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the ...

. At about the same time, the unit's commander Jim Lynagh was spotted in the town, suggesting the van might be used in the attack. The digger (a

backhoe loader A backhoe loader, also called a loader backhoe, loader excavator, digger in layman's terms, or colloquially shortened to backhoe within the industry, is a heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like unit fitted with a loader-style sh ...

) was taken from a farm at Lislasly Road, about two miles west of Loughgall. Two IRA members stayed at the farm to stop the owners raising the alarm.

Declan Arthurs The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles". It is believed to have drawn ...

drove the digger, while two others drove ahead of him in a scout car. The rest of the unit travelled in the van from another location, presumably also with a scout car. When a covert observation post monitoring the digger reported that it was being moved, the SAS took up its positions. Undercover Army 14 Intelligence Company soldiers drove around the backroads into Loughgall surveilling the unit.

Ambush

The IRA unit arrived in Loughgall from the north-east shortly after 19:00, when the station was scheduled to close for the night. They were armed and wearing

bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. T ...

boilersuit A boilersuit (or boiler suit), also known as coveralls, is a loose fitting garment covering the whole body except for the head, hands and feet. Terminology The term ''boilersuit'' is most common in the UK, where the 1989 edition of the ''Oxfo ...

s, gloves and balaclavas. The digger drove past the police station, turned around and drove back again with the

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

van carrying the main IRA assault party doing the same. Not seeing any activity in the station in their two slow passes of it, members of the IRA unit felt that something was amiss, and debated whether to continue, but decided to go ahead with the attack. Tony Gormley and Gerard O'Callaghan got out of the van and joined Declan Arthurs on the digger, according to journalist

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politic ...

, "literally

riding shotgun "Riding shotgun" was a phrase used to describe the bodyguard who rides alongside a stagecoach driver, typically armed with a break-action shotgun, called a coach gun, to ward off bandits or hostile Native Americans. In modern use, it refers ...

", with weapons in one hand and a lighter in the other. At about 7:15 Arthurs drove the digger towards the station. In the front bucket was of

semtex Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive containing RDX and Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, PETN. It is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex was developed and manufactured in Czechoslovakia, or ...

inside an oil drum, partially hidden by rubble and wired to two 40-second fuses. The other five members of the unit followed in the van with Eugene Kelly driving, unit commander Patrick Kelly in the passenger seat, whilst in the rear were Lynagh, Pádraig McKearney, and Seamus Donnelly. The digger crashed through the light security fence and the fuses were lit. The van stopped a short distance ahead and, according to the British security forces, three of the team jumped out and fired on the building with automatic weapons. Author Raymond Murray disputes this. According to Taylor, and co-corroborated by an ECHR judgement, Patrick Kelly jumped from the passenger seat and, followed by others, immediately opened fire on the building, either to encourage the rest to resolve the dispute about going ahead with the attack, or possibly because this was the way previous attacks had begun. At the same time, the bomb detonated, the blast destroying the digger and badly damaging the building. Within seconds the SAS opened fire on the IRA attackers from the station and from hidden positions outside with

M16 The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...

and

H&K G3 The Heckler & Koch G3 (''Gewehr'' 3) is a 7.62×51mm NATO, select-fire battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CET ...

rifles and two L7A2

general-purpose machine gun A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-change barrel design calibered for v ...

s. There were 600 spent British cartridge cases recovered from the scene, with approximately 125 bullet holes in the bodywork of the van, while 78 spent cartridge cases were recovered that were fired from IRA weapons. All eight IRA members were killed in the hail of gunfire; all had multiple wounds to their bodies, including their heads. Declan Arthurs was shot in a lane-way opposite Loughgall F.C. premises; he was unarmed and holding a cigarette lighter in his right hand. Three of the IRA members were shot at close range as they lay either dead or wounded on the ground. Three other IRA members in the scout cars escaped from the scene, managing to pass through British Army and RUC check-points set up after the ambush had been sprung. The two HMSU officers were injured in the explosion with one suffering severe head injuries and the other a broken nose and were helped outside by the uniformed officer with no officer returning fire. An SAS soldier received a facial injury from glass after a window was broken by gunfire. Two civilians, brothers Anthony and Oliver Hughes, were driving home in a white

Citroën GS The GS is a front-engine, front-drive, four or five door, five passenger family car manufactured and marketed by Citroën in two series: for model years 1970-1979 in fastback saloon and estate bodystyles and subsequently as the GSA for model yea ...

after repairing a lorry when they, driving behind the van, unwittingly drove into the ambush. Anthony was driving and Oliver, who was wearing blue coveralls similar to those worn by the IRA members, was sitting in the front passenger seat. Roughly from the police station, soldiers opened fire on their car from behind, killing Anthony and badly wounding Oliver. According to the soldiers, the Citroën reversed away slowly then zigzagged at high speed before stopping. Oliver denies that it reversed away at high speed. Oliver managed to get out of the car despite being warned not to move and was shot resulting in him falling to the ground. Two soldiers later gave him first aid. He had been shot 14 times. The Citroën had approximately 34 bullet holes. The villagers had not been informed of the operation and no attempt had been made to evacuate anyone or to seal off the ambush zone, as this might have alerted the IRA. A mother and her child took shelter in the church hall after their

Ford Sierra The Ford Sierra is a mid-size car or large family car manufactured and marketed by Ford Europe from 1982-1993, designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément — and noted for its aerodynamic styling producing a drag coefficien ...

's rear window was hit by a stray bullet from the station. The security forces recovered eight IRA firearms from the scene: three

rifles, one

FN FAL The FAL (a French acronym for (English: "Light Automatic Rifle")), is a battle rifle designed in Belgium by Dieudonné Saive and manufactured by FN Herstal (simply known as FN). During the Cold War the FAL was adopted by many countries of th ...

rifle, two

FN FNC The FNC (french: Fabrique Nationale Carabine) is a 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifle developed by the Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal and introduced in the late 1970s. Development The FNC was developed between 1975–1977 for NATO standardiza ...

rifles, a

Franchi SPAS-12 The Franchi SPAS-12 is a combat shotgun manufactured by Italian firearms company Franchi (firearms), Franchi from 1979 to 2000. The SPAS-12 is a dual-mode shotgun, adjustable for semi-automatic firearm, semi-automatic or pump-action operation. T ...

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

and a

Ruger Security-Six The Ruger Security-Six and its variants, the Service-Six and Speed-Six are a product line of double-action revolvers introduced in 1972 and manufactured until 1988 by Sturm, Ruger & Company. These revolvers were marketed to law enforcement duty ...

revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...

. The RUC linked the weapons to seven known murders and twelve attempted murders in the Mid-Ulster region. The Ruger had been stolen from Reserve RUC officer William Clement, killed two years earlier in the IRA attack on Ballygawley RUC base. It was found that another of the guns had been used in the murder of Harold Henry, a builder employed by the British Army and RUC in facilities construction in Northern Ireland. Loughgall police station - geograph - 1796947

Loughgall police station - geograph - 1796947

Aftermath

Shortly after the ambush the Provisional IRA released a statement saying: "

volunteers Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

who shot their way out of the ambush and escaped saw other volunteers being shot on the ground after being captured". The IRA members killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among IRA supporters. The men's relatives considered their deaths to be part of a deliberate shoot-to-kill policy by the security forces. Thousands of people attended their funerals, the biggest republican funerals in Northern Ireland since those of the IRA hunger strikers of 1981.

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020 ...

, in his graveside oration, gave a speech stating the British Government understood that it could buy off the government of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, which he described as the "

shoneen Shoneenism is a pejorative term, used in Ireland from at least the 18th century, to describe Irish people who are viewed as adhering to Anglophile snobbery. Some late 19th and early 20th century Irish nationalist writers, like D. P. Moran (1869 ...

clan" (that is, Anglophile), but added "it does not understand the Jim Lynaghs, the Pádraig McKearneys or the

Séamus McElwaine Séamus Turlough McElwaine (also spelt Seamus McElwain; 1 April 1960 – 26 April 1986) was a volunteer in the South Fermanagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles who was shot dead by the British Army. Ea ...

s. It thinks it can defeat them. It never will." The East Tyrone Brigade continued to be active until the last Provisional IRA ceasefire ten years later. SAS operations against the IRA also continued. The IRA set out to find the informer it believed to be among them, although it has been suggested that the informer, if there ever was one, had been killed in the ambush. On 20 March 1989, RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen was shot dead in an IRA ambush near the

Irish border Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

together with RUC Superintendent Bob Buchanan. Breen had given a media briefing on the day of the Loughgall ambush at the scene and the following morning displayed the recovered IRA firearms to the media appearing on television and in newspapers. An

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Tribunal of Inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

by Judge

Peter Smithwick Peter Smithwick (15 February 1937 – 8 March 2022) was an Irish judge who served as chairman and the sole member of the Smithwick Tribunal, a Tribunal of Inquiry into the events surrounding the killing of Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and ...

into the deaths of the two senior RUC officers investigating

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...

collusion with the IRA, concluded in 2013 that Breen was the target of the ambush to abduct and interrogate him on how the British security services had advance warning of the Loughgall ambush. The IRA East Tyrone Brigade attacked the Loughgall RUC station again around 1am on 5 September 1990 with a 1000 lb van bomb outside the station. The unmanned station suffered extensive damage with no one injured as a warning was given. Earlier in the week, the date of when the Loughgall ambush inquest was to start 24 September had been announced. In April 1996, the RUC confirmed that the Loughgall police station was to be re-built later that year. The station was in use until its administrative closure in August 2009. In April 2011, it was sold for private development.

Legal proceedings

In September 1988, the

Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the head of the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland, and is appointed by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. The position of DPP was established in 1972. The current DPP is Stephen He ...

concluded "that the evidence did not warrant the prosecution of any person involved in the shootings". Six families of the IRA members and the family of Anthony Hughes commenced civil proceedings against the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MoD). In April 1991, the widow of Anthony Hughes settled out of court. In May 1995, an

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

commenced that was held over four days which concluded that all nine men had died from serious and multiple gunshot wounds. Lawyers representing six families of IRA members withdrew from the inquest on the second day of hearings as the Coroner would not provide copies of witness statements to enable them to prepare. SAS soldiers did not give evidence, with their statements read out. In 2001, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

(ECHR) ruled that the eight IRA men and one civilian killed at Loughgall had their human rights violated by the failure of the British Government to conduct a proper investigation into their deaths, that was independent and transparent. The applicants, the next-of-kin, claimed that the deaths were an

unlawful killing In English law, unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or more unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of ...

. In December 2011, Northern Ireland's

Historical Enquiries Team The Historical Enquiries Team was a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles, specifically between 1968 and 1998. It was wound up in September ...

found that not only did the IRA team fire first but that they could not have been safely arrested. They concluded that the British Army was justified in opening fire. In January 2014, the High Court ordered that the families of the IRA members suing the MoD could widen their claim to include the RUC Chief Constable. The police later disclosed documents for the court case revealing that IRA members had been under military surveillance for weeks prior to the ambush. In March 2014, the Hughes family received an apology from the MoD for the death of Anthony and for injuring Oliver that both men were "wholly innocent of any wrongdoing". In September 2015, the

Advocate General for Northern Ireland The advocate general for Northern Ireland is the chief legal adviser to the Government of the United Kingdom on Northern Ireland law and the post is held by the attorney general for England and Wales by virtue of that office. The advocate general ...

announced that a new inquest would be held. In September 2019, at a preliminary hearing the presiding coroner was told that the inquest may run for three to six months. In April 2020, lawyers acting on behalf of the families lodged a submission with the

Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe ( French: ''Comité des ministres du Conseil de l'Europe'') or Committee of Ministers ( French: ''Comité des ministres'') is the Council of Europe's decision-making body. It comprises the Forei ...

requesting an infringement proceeding in the ECHR for the 2001 judgement as the coroner had not fixed a hearing date for the inquest.

In pop culture

"Loughgall Ambush" is the name of a republican

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

about the attack, recorded by

Charlie and the Bhoys Charlie and the Bhoys are a Glasgow Celtic-themed Irish folk band from Scotland. They formed the band in the 1980s in Barlanark in the East End of Glasgow and played their first concert at the Squirrel Bar in the Gallowgate, Glasgow in 1989. T ...

amongst others.Song details
/ref> The event was also mentioned in the song " Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six" by London Irish band

The Pogues The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in Kings Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my arse". T ...

References