Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade - The Loughgall Ambush

The Loughgall Ambush

On 8 May 1987, at least eight members of the brigade launched an attack on the unmanned Loughgall RUC base. The IRA unit used the same tactics as it had done in the The Birches attack. It destroyed a substantial part of the base with a 200 lb bomb and raked the building with gunfire. However, as their attack was underway, the IRA unit was ambushed by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit. The SAS shot dead eight IRA members and a civilian who had accidentally driven into the ambush. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during its campaign. Six IRA members from a supporting unit managed to slip away.

The eight volunteers killed in the ambush became known as the "Loughgall Martyrs" among many republicans. They were:

• Patrick Kelly, aged 32, brigade's commander from Carrickfergus in County Antrim.
• Jim Lynagh, aged 31, was from Monaghan Town. A volunteer since the early 1970s, Lynagh was suspected to have been involved in the 1981 killing of Norman Stronge.
• Pádraig McKearney, from Moy, aged 32, had also joined the IRA in the early 1970s and took part in the Maze Prison escape.
• Declan Arthurs, a 21-year-old from the townland of Galbally in Tyrone, who became involved in the republican movement after attending the funeral of hunger striker Martin Hurson. Prior to the Loughgall Ambush, Arthurs had been arrested on three occasions.
• Seamus Donnelly, aged 19, was the youngest to die in the ambush. Donnelly was also from Galbally.
• Eugene Kelly, a 25-year-old who was recruited for his detailed geographical knowledge of rural areas of County Tyrone and Armagh.
• Gerry O'Callaghan, aged 29, had previously been arrested alongside McKearney in 1980 and later took part in the blanket protests.
• Tony Gormley, aged 25, was also from Galbally where he operated an engineering sub-contracting company.