On 7 December 1985 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) attacked the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base at

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 ...

. Two RUC officers were shot dead and the base was raked with gunfire before being destroyed by a bomb, which wounded a further three officers.

Background

In 1985,

Patrick Kelly Patrick or Paddy Kelly may refer to: Politicians * Patrick Kelly (Irish politician) (1875–1934), Irish soldier, farmer and politician, Teachta Dála (TD) for Clare 1927–1932 * Patrick Kelly (Canadian politician) (1846–1916), Prince Edward ...

became leader of the

Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade 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 ...

. He, along with East Tyrone Brigade members

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 using

flying column A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ''ad hoc'' unit, formed during the course of operations. The term is usually, though not necessarily, appli ...

s to destroy isolated

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 ...

and RUC bases and stop them from being repaired. The goal was to create and hold "liberated zones" under IRA control that would be gradually enlarged. Although IRA Chief of Staff

Kevin McKenna Kevin James McKenna (born 21 January 1980) is a Canadian former professional soccer who played as a centre back and current assistant manager of 1. FC Köln. Occasionally, he also played as a central midfielder or striker. Club career McKenn ...

turned-down the flying column idea,

IRA Northern Command Northern Command was a command division in the Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) and Provisional IRA, responsible for directing IRA operations in the northern part of Ireland. IRA The IRA had difficulty with cross-border communications between D ...

approved the plan to destroy bases and prevent their repair. In that year alone there were 44 such attacks. Among the most devastating was the mortar attack on Newry RUC barracks in March.

The attack

The attack involved two IRA

active service unit An active service unit (ASU; ) was a Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) cell of four to ten members, tasked with carrying out armed attacks. In 2002, the IRA had about 1,000 active members of which about 300 were in active service units. T ...

s from the East Tyrone Brigade: an armed assault unit and a bomb unit. There were also several teams of IRA observers in the area. The assault team was armed with

AK-47 The AK-47, officially known as the ''Avtomat Kalashnikova'' (; also known as the Kalashnikov or just AK), is a gas-operated assault rifle that is chambered for the 7.62×39mm cartridge. Developed in the Soviet Union by Russian small-arms d ...

and

AR-15 An AR-15-style rifle is any lightweight semi-automatic rifle based on the Colt AR-15 design. The original ArmaLite AR-15 is a scaled-down derivative of Eugene Stoner's ArmaLite AR-10 design. The then Fairchild Engine and Airplane Corporatio ...

rifles, while the bombing unit was to be responsible for planting and detonating a bomb. Both units were commanded by Patrick Kelly. The assault was launched on Saturday 7 December at 18:55, when the handful of RUC officers manning the base were getting ready to hand over to the next shift.Taylor, Peter. ''Provos: The IRA & Sinn Féin''. Bloomsbury Publishing, 1998. p.270 In the first burst of automatic fire, the two guards at the entrance were killed: Constable George Gilliland and Reserve Constable William Clements. Constable Clements' Ruger Speed-Six revolver was taken by the attackers.Taylor, Peter (1997). ''Behind the Mask: The IRA and Sinn Féin''. TV books, p.315. The base was then raked with gunfire. Another three RUC officers who were inside ran out to the back of the base, where they hoped the walls might offer some cover. IRA members went into the building and took documents and weapons. The bomb was placed inside and, upon detonation, destroyed the entire base. Three officers were hurt. The republican ''

IRIS Magazine ''IRIS'' was an English and Irish language magazine which focuses on Irish republicanism, Irish politics, current affairs, history and foreign affairs. The first issue of the magazine was published in 1981. Its headquarters was in Belfast. It ce ...

'' (#11, October 1987) described the attack as follows:

One volunteer took up a position close to the front gate. Two RUC men opened the gate and the volunteer calmly stepped forward, shooting them both dead at point blank range. Volunteers firing AK-47 and Armalite rifles moved into the barracks, raking it with gunfire. Having secured the building they planted a 100 lb bomb inside. The bomb exploded, totally destroying the building after the volunteers had withdrawn to safety.

The first British Army unit to arrive at the base in the wake of the attack was X Company, 1st Battalion,

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part o ...

Aftermath

The attack was one of the Provisional IRA's biggest during this period. Twelve days later the same IRA brigade mortared the RUC station at Castlederg badly damaging the base and injuring four people. The Ballygawley base was rebuilt by the Royal Engineers in 1986. The East Tyrone IRA launched two similar attacks in the following years: the successful attack on the Birches base in 1986, and the ill-fated attack on the Loughgall base in 1987, in which eight IRA members were killed. Ballygawley itself had seen conflict before with the Ballygawley land mine attack in 1983, and would see more violence in 1988 with the

Ballygawley bus bombing The Ballygawley bus bombing was a roadside bomb attack by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) on a bus carrying British soldiers in Northern Ireland. It occurred in the early hours of 20 August 1988 in the townland of Curr near Ballyg ...

, that cost the lives of eight British soldiers. The gun taken from Constable Clements was found by security forces after the SAS ambush at Loughgall. The RUC base at Ballygawley was once again targeted by the East Tyrone Brigade on 7 December 1992, in what became the debut of the IRA's brand new Mark-15 improvised mortar, better known as "

Barrack Buster Barrack buster is the colloquial name given to several improvised mortars, developed in the 1990s by the engineering unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The improvised mortar properly called "barrack buster" - known to the British ...

". Another attack with a horizontal mortar occurred on 30 April 1993, when an RUC mobile patrol leaving Ballygawley compound was targeted. According to an IRA statement, the projectile missed one of the vehicles, hit a wall and exploded.

Background

The attack

Aftermath

See also

References

Further reading