1986 Newry killings

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1986 Newry Killings
Part of The Troubles
Newry Town Hall close to the attack site
Date 26 July 1986 Location Hill Street, Newry, County Down 54°10′42″N 6°20′29″W Fatal error: The format of the coordinate could not be determined. Parsing failed. Result Successful IRA attack and getaway
Belligerents
United Kingdom Royal Ulster Constabulary	Provisional IRA
Commanders and leaders
Charles Allen	Unknown
Units involved
RUC	South Down Brigade
Strength
3	2 Active Service Unit
Casualties and losses
3 killed	None
Location within Northern Ireland

On 26 July 1986, two Provisional IRA active service units (ASUs) killed three members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. The three RUC officers were shot and killed from close range while sitting in their stationary armoured patrol car at the junction of Hill Street in Newry.

Background

Newry, along with other nationalist areas of Belfast, Londonderry/Derry and Strabane, was one of the most dangerous urban areas in Northern Ireland for members of the British security forces during Operation Banner and The Troubles conflict. From September 1971 to April 1985, 26 members of the RUC and British Army (including the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR)) had been killed by either the Official IRA or Provisional IRA. A year earlier, on 28 February 1985, the Provisional IRA inflicted the heaviest death toll on the RUC in a single incident during the entire Troubles. In this incident, the 1985 Newry mortar attack, an IRA unit launched a mortar attack at RUC Newry police station. In the blast from a direct hit, nine RUC members were killed and 37 others were wounded. Five and a half weeks later, on 3 April 1985, another RUC constable was killed along with a security guard who were killed in a booby-trap car bomb attack outside Newry Courthouse. Six other RUC members were injured in the attack.

Attack

Due to the amount of attacks and security force fatalities in Newry in that period, the town was being heavily patrolled at the time. The IRA's attack involved two ASUs. One of the IRA ASUs managed to block off Hill Street – isolating the three RUC members the IRA had intended to target. The second IRA ASU, made up of three IRA Volunteers dressed as butchers' assistants, advanced on the armoured RUC car stationed at the junction of Market Square and Hill Street. One of the IRA Volunteers flung open the RUC car door while the other two, armed with 9mm handguns, opened fire on the RUC members. They killed three RUC officers. While they were making their escape, one of the IRA Volunteers threw a grenade into the armoured car – in an attempt to confuse anybody who would give chase and to make sure the RUC officers were dead. The RUC members killed that day were, Karl Blackbourne (19), Peter Kilpatrick (27) and Charles Allen (37).

Aftermath

The last member of the British security forces killed in Newry during The Troubles was shot dead by one of the Armagh Sniper units of the Provisional IRA's South Armagh Brigade on 31 October 1993. He was shot at a Vehicle Check Point (VCP) at Upper Edward Street, Newry, and died two days later. After this killing, and until the IRA's 1994 ceasefire, PIRA bombings and attacks continued in Newry. The worst of these was a mortar attack on the Newry RUC station, on 29 July 1994, just over a month before the ceasefire was called. In this attack, 46 people were injured, including 38 civilians, three RUC officers and five British soldiers. The RUC station also suffered structural damage.

Further reading

• Toby Harnden (2000). Bandit Country: The Ira and South Armagh. Coronet. ISBN 9780340717370. Search this book on
• CAIN:A Chronology of the Conflict - 1986 from the Conflict Archive on the Internet

References

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