A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict ISSUE 41

A Chronology of the Northern Ireland Conflict ISSUE 41

It can often be a contentious issue of debate of when and how Northern Ireland s Troubles began, who and what is to blame, and even which event in case led us to where we are now. You can go back 30 years, or even 300 years and beyond for in reality Ireland has been engaged in conflict with England for centuries. Therefore, in order to compile a chronological record of the modern Troubles - the term usually given to the most recent conflict, we must mark a defining point of start, which we have taken as partition itself and from which we began in. In turn again, we feel it is equally important to give you the reader some understanding why events spiralled as they did into a bloody civil war. This is not another view of the Troubles, this has been done and redone. This is the historical recording of events compiled by people from different parts of Belfast who lived through them. Our objective as local historians is to compile what we hope will be as near as possible a definitive reference to events as they unfolded through the last three decades. In terms of research we have used as much material as possible and from diverse perspectives. We are confident that we have covered events as they were reported at the time. If however you feel that we have either left something out or indeed got something wrong we are more than happy to hear from you. As mentioned above this series of publications is the historical recording of the Troubles and all corrections are more than welcome. GLENRAVEL LOCAL HISTORY PROJECT Ashton Centre Churchill Street Belfast BT15 2BP Tel: (028) 9020 2100 Fax: (028) 9020 2227 E-Mail: glenravel@ashtoncentre.com This is designed to create a better historical understanding of what has become known as The Troubles. Therefore for educational purposes you are more than welcome to use any material from them. All that we ask is that the source is acknowledged and a copy of the material sent to us after publication. We use material that has been placed in the public domain. We try to acknowledge all the copyright holders but sometimes this is not possible. If you claim credit for something that has appeared in this publication then we will be happy to know about it so that we can make the appropriate acknowledgements. SOURCE MATERIAL USED FOR THIS PUBLICATION IRISH NEWS Numerous issues for period covered NEWS LETTER Numerous issues for period covered BELFAST TELEGRAPH Numerous issues for period covered LOST LIVES A record of all those killed during The Troubles www.wikipedia.org We use this site to cover major events during the Northern Ireland conflict. We recommend its use not only for local material but also for any general educational or research subject. 2

Tuesday 1st March 1977 The brother of a loyalist politician was shot and wounded in Portadown. The brothers looked very similar and it was believed that it was a case of mistaken identity. The man was hit on the chest and face when he was ambushed while walking to work. A man armed with a handgun fired several times at the brother of the loyalist who was on his way to work in the accounts department of a hardware and timber firm. Five buses were destroyed during an attack on the depot in Ballymena. At the same time the centre of the town was sealed off after a number of hoax bomb alerts in a number of shops. The two men who were blown up by their own bomb on Corporation Street were named as Joseph Lavery aged 35, married with three children from Kilwarlin Crescent and James Cordner aged 20 from East Bread Street. According to the UVF the men were on active service at the time. Wednesday 2nd March 1977 Mr Donald Robinson, who ran the Apex Ceiling Company in Lawrence Street in the Botanic area, was shot dead in his office. Three gunmen were involved in the shooting and Mr Robinson was shot three times in the dead and died at the scene. The gunmen made their getaway before the police arrived. A firebomb attack on a The spot where Mr Walker Whitten was shot in Portadown Newry Hotel was claimed by the south Down IRA. Two cassette type incendiaries exploded in the Ardmore Hotel and a third device was later found in the gents toilet and was defused. Little damage was caused. The hotel had been cleared after a warning to the nearby Daisy Hill Hospital. Mr Robinson s body is carried away from his Lawrence Street office (Right) 3

Thursday 3rd March 1977 Shots were fired over the coffin and scuffles broke out between mourners and the RUC at the funeral of one of the two UVF men killed by their own bomb. Hundreds of mourners, mostly young men, attended the funeral. A bomb, which exploded inside an Ardoyne bookmakers shop, caused extensive damage and a woman was treated for shock. The bookmakers shop at the junction of Crumlin Road and Brompton Park in Belfast was hit by explosion caused by a 20lb bomb. Children playing in an 4 entry at Bright Street on the Albertbridge Road in Belfast found a box containing a small quantity of ammunition. A single low velocity shot was fired at an army patrol at Stewartstown Road, and a blast bomb discovered by the army on waste ground in Lenadoon was blown up by the army. In Omagh fire crews watched as Smiths furniture warehouse at Dromore Road was destroyed by a blaze, which lasted for about an hour, following a warning that there was a bomb in the building. Friday 4th March 1977 A 5lb bomb attached to a can of petrol exploded without warning in the hallway of the home of a leading Belfast jeweller and chairman of Linfield Football Club. The house at Harberton Drive in the Malone area had some structural damage and a small fire caused some scorching before it was put out. There was no one in the house at the time. A telephone caller to the Samaritans warned that a bomb had been planted at a house in Derryvolgie Avenue in the Malone area of Belfast. The owner, a company director, was evacuated along with his family. Only part of the 5lb bomb exploded and the rest was later neutralised by the army. No damage was caused. Two elderly men were treated for shock after a no warning bomb attack on the Tyrone home of a former DUP Convention member. The man was not at home at the time. The blast broke windows in the house. Police were involved in a car chase in Newry when they noticed two suspicious vehicles in St Mary s Street and gave chase. The police stopped one of the vehicles and a firearm was recovered. Four people were detained. Mr Rory O'Kelly was shot dead as he sat in a bar drinking with friends in Coalisland. Mr O'Kelly was a Crown Prosecutor in County Down and in claiming the attack the IRA said the shooting was "part of our continuing attacks against British imperialism's judiciary and administration."

Saturday 5th March 1977 A 20-year-old woman of Lavinia Street in Belfast was charged with causing an explosion in the city. Two men were charged with the killing of an RUC Inspector in Lurgan. They were accused of shooting dead Inspector Harry Cobb at security gates in Lurgan. A 33-year-old man was shot in the arm in Belfast. He was found in the West Circular Road and taken to hospital. Two youths planted a 6lb bomb at a petrol station on the Antrim Road in Belfast. The area was cleared and the bomb partially exploded causing little damage. A small bomb exploded at the rear of Kelly s supermarket in Spencer Road, Derry. The area had been cleared after a telephone warning to the RUC and little damage was caused. The army found a rifle and ammunition hidden near the baths in William Street, Derry. Two half brothers from Rathcoole were jailed for having a concentrated arms dump for the UVF. They had stored rifles, shotguns, explosives and ammunition and were also charged with possessing a home made sub machine gun, over 1000 rounds of ammunition and nail bombs. Monday 7th March 1977 Two men were seriously injured when they were shot on a building site in the Twinbrook Estate. One of the men was hit in the chest and the other in the shoulder, chest and back. The men, one aged 24 and the other aged 60 were sitting in a hut at a building site at Areemta Drive when they were attacked. A youth and a girl entered the hut and opened fire, hitting the men. Two other men in the hut were ordered outside before the shooting. A booby trap device was planted under the car of a RUC man outside the Ahoghill home of friends he was visiting. The RUC man spotted it and alerted the army. The bomb, which contained 2lb of explosives, was destroyed in a controlled explosion. In Co Fermanagh, a passenger in a car being chased by a police patrol opened fire. He fired a number of shots through the rear window of a car in which he was travelling and two bullets struck the police vehicle. Police returned fire, but the car was driven across the border. A number of shots were fired at the RUC operating a checkpoint on the Antrim Road, near Carlisle Circus. The shots were fired as police were talking to people in a car stopped at the checkpoint. No one was hit and the police fired 4 shots back at the gunmen. The RUC noticed three men trying to hijack a car at Straw near Draperstown. The men were asked to stop and when they ran off the police opened fire. Later a.22 rifle was found at the scene. Tuesday 8th March 1977 A policeman came under fire as he diverted traffic away from a Crumlin Road garage where a suspect device had been planted. The policeman was wounded in the arm and hand, the shots were fired from the Flax Street direction. A gunman shooting from a motorcycle fired one shot from the pillion seat at a motorist who was driving along Balmoral Avenue. The shot missed and the gunman escaped towards the Malone Road. The RUC uncovered an arms and explosives cache in Portadown. They found a quantity of bomb making materials including fuse and detonators, a revolver and a number of bullets in a house in Obins Street. An elderly man was detained. Mr Myles Scullion, aged 47, from Craigavon, was shot dead when he went to answer the door at his home in Enniskillen. Two youths were involved in the shooting and a number of shots were fired in the 5

incident. Mr Scullion was married with five children and was a processor at the Exquisite Fabrics plant at Seagoe. Three soldiers and a 20- year-old civilian were injured when a van A taxi driver foiled an attempt to hijack his vehicle in Belfast. The driver had gone to collect a fare at Castlereagh Street where a man asked him to drive to the Ravenhill Road. The driver was struck on the back of the head with a pistol and ordered out of the taxi. 6 bomb exploded without warning outside a Belfast Volkswagen showroom. One of the soldiers had a broken leg and the other three men were treated for cuts. Cars and property were damaged in the blast. Wednesday 9th March 1977 A UDR man was shot dead when he went to check cattle that he owned on a remote farm near the Monaghan border. The man was a full time member of the regiment and was from the Caledon area of Tyrone. He had driven to the area in his van and was found dead in a pool of blood near his vehicle. Two gunmen were involved in the incident and a number of shots were fired at the man who was named as 53-year-old Mr John Reid, a bachelor from Main Street, Caledon. The taxi driver struggled with the gunman and later a man was arrested in connection with the incident. The teenage daughter of a part time police reservist narrowly escaped injury when gunfire raked her Tyrone home. The 15- year-old girl had just gone into the bathroom of her house at D r o m o r e, Stewartstown, and turned on the light when two gunmen opened fire. The bullets smashed through the window and the girl was cut about the face by flying glass. Her father fired at the gunmen with his revolver and a shotgun but the men escaped across fields to a waiting car. A 20-year-old man was shot as he left his work in the Limestone Road area of north Belfast. Two waiting gunmen opened fire on the man and he was hit on the neck and stomach. Two children playing in the Antrim Road area near Bellevue reported seeing a man burying a polythene wrapped container. When the RUC searched the area they found a box containing two hand grenades and gun cleaning material. The hand grenades were made safe by the army. A number of nail bombs were discovered in a city scrap yard after a worker reported finding suspicious objects. The devices were made harmless. Thursday 10th March 1977 Eighteen-year-old Norman Sharkey from the Belvoir area was shot dead when he tried to warn colleagues of a bomb attack. The youth shouted bomb when two men burst into a car accessory shop near the city centre. One of the men opened fire from point blank range and Mr Sharkey died at the scene. They then planted a bomb in the shop at the York Street, Great Patrick Street junction. The blast started a fierce fire, which destroyed the premises and threatened to engulf adjoining buildings. Two small explosions in the docks area of Belfast started a fire in a shed at Sinclair Wharf, where raw leaf tobacco and feeding stuffs were stored. No one was hurt, but stock was damaged. A 24-year-old man was shot in both legs in the Creggan estate, Derry as he was held against railing outside St Mary s Church. A single shot was fired at a police patrol checking a car parked at Annadale Street on the Antrim Road in Belfast. None of the policemen were hurt and a hostile crowd stoned the patrol for a short time. A routine army patrol discovered a small quantity of explosives near the border. The army found a plastic bag containing 2lb of explosives close to the Sion Mills, Clady Road. They were blown up by the army.

Bomb attack on Paddy Hopkirk s at the junction of York Street and Great Patrick Street during which eighteen year old Norman Sharkey was shot dead Saturday 12th March 1977 The 24-year-old wife of a prison warder was shot in the neck at her Glengormley home and at the same time bombs exploded under two prison warders cars in Belfast. A device also went off on the windowsill of an ex prison warders home. It was thought the UVF were responsible due to the long sentences handed out to 26 UVF men in a Belfast court. Two youths planted a bomb, which damaged the Capital Cars showroom on the Antrim Road in Belfast. They planted a parcel and a tin beside a car and the 2lb bomb went off 7 minutes later. The ceiling collapsed in the garage and there was some glass damage but no one was hurt. Firebombs exploded in three Derry shops and incendiaries were found in two boutiques. Fires damaged stock at Woolworth s in 7

Ferryquay Street, Austin s Store in the Diamond and the Thatch boutique in Shipquay Street. Staff found a cassette type incendiary at the Playgirl boutique on the Strand Road and two were found near a stock of sugar at Kelly s supermarket on the Waterside. The army dealt with three devices, which did not explode. Monday 14th March 1977 8 Clearing up after bomb attacks on shops in Castle Lane Constable William David Brown, aged 18 of Strabane was shot dead in an IRA ambush near Lisnaskea. He was driving a police car on the Ballaghs Cross when a number of gunmen opened fire with high velocity weapons. One bullet hit Constable Brown in the back and his car careered out of control and overturned. A Ann Street in Belfast city centre is evacuated following four IRA bomb blasts explosion fractured man had just parked his water mains in the street car and was walking causing flooding. towards the front door Extensive structural of his house at damage was caused to Ballygawley Road premises and windows when he was fired on. were blown in and the 20 shots were fired at streets were carpeted in him, one hit him on the glass. hand and another grazed his head. reserve policeman in the car was wounded. Fire was returned but no hits were claimed. Bombs exploded in four shops in Belfast. No one was injured in the no warning attacks in the Ann Street and Castle Lane areas. The targets included BHS, Curtess s shoe shop, La Babalu boutique and a tobacconist. The Two youths, one carrying a gun, planted two bombs in the hall of the Sterling Hotel on the Antrim Road, Belfast. They shouted a 15- minute warning and then ran to a waiting car. They fired shots at the police as they abandoned their car in Oceanic Avenue, a short distance away. Fire swept through the front of the building and engulfed the roof. An ex member of the UDR was injured in a gun attack at his home in Dungannon. The A bomb thrown into the car of a policeman at Florence Place in the Crumlin Road area only partially exploded. There was no one in the vehicle at the time. A petrol bomb planted at the side of an RUC mans home near Portadown, spotted by a passing motorist was kicked into the street. The device, a can of petrol with firelighters on top, exploded harmlessly. Small bombs were thrown at two houses in

William David Brown Braehill Park, Crumlin Road, Belfast. One blew glass in the front door but the other exploded harmlessly. No one was injured. A petrol bomb thrown at a house in Highfern Gardens hit a gate and exploded. No one was hurt. Several shots were fired through the living room window of a house in the Donegall Road area. No one was injured. exploded when the device was spotted. An explosion wrecked a Foyle Fisheries Commission building at the Gribbon, near Bready. Two shots were fired at a house near the building in which an elderly couple lived. A single low velocity shot was fired at an army mobile patrol at the Buncrana Road. No one was hurt and no fire was returned. Tuesday 15th March 1977 A part time UDR man was killed when he was shot at point blank range, he died instantly. The man was named as Mr David McQuillan, from Mullaghboy Crescent, Bellaghy. He was married with children and his family witnessed the killing. Four gunmen shot at Mr McQuillan and a friend as they waited for a van to take them to work at a construction company. His workmate was also injured in the attack. A part time UDR man was shot and injured as he arrived at his work at a concrete factory at Gortgenis, Coalisland. The gunmen opened fire on the man with a pistol and a sawn off shotgun. A policeman on duty outside the courthouse in Magherafelt was fired on by gunmen in a passing car. The IRA threatened to attack part of the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast after it alleged that the hospital was being used by the army for counter insurgency and surveillance operations. Mr James Nicholson was shot dead after leaving Strathearn Audio in Belfast. He A small bomb was defused by the army in Strabanes Railway Street. The device, in a plastic bag, had been planted outside a hardware merchants and the detonator had The army carried out a search of a scrap yard in Obins Street in Portadown and discovered a.303 rifle, one round of.303 ammunition and nine shotgun cartridges. Car bomb which was left outside the Belfast Prison on the Crumlin Road 9

was married with two children and was travelling back to Aldergrove airport when he was shot. Mr Nicholson, aged 50, was from Capegrove, Harrogate, Yorkshire, and was on business in Belfast. A number of shots were fired at his chauffeur driven car while it waited in traffic at Stockman s Lane. Mr Nicholson was killed instantly and his driver who was from Belfast was seriously injured. The gunmen escaped in a hijacked car, which was later, found abandoned nearby. A former journalist, Mr Nicholson was a partner in a London public relations consultancy firm and had done work 10 for Strathearn Audio for many years. Seven bombs exploded in Belfast city centre but no one was injured. One of the explosions was outside the Crumlin Road prison and courthouse. A proxy bomb in a Belfast Telegraph van blasted Wednesday 16th March 1977 A gunman armed with a highpowered rifle fired two shots at a Royal Navy vessel as it left Carlingford Lough. The army stated that a member of the crew of HMS Vigilant spotted the gunman hiding near a church at Omeath. Fire was returned but no one was injured in the exchange. A Belfast man was charged with the possession of explosives at his home in Oldpark Avenue in Belfast. Two part time UDR men were fired on in Obins Street, Portadown, as they returned from work. Four shots were fired at their car but missed the target. the prison gate and blew in the windows in the courthouse opposite. A gunman in Berlin Street in the Shankill area hijacked the van. Another explosion was in a derelict building at Alfred Street. A telephone caller warned the Samaritans that a bomb was planted in the area but nothing was found in a search. The building was demolished in the blast. The army returned fire after a shot was fired at Rosemount RUC station in Derry. No one was hurt. Thursday 17th March 1977 A businessman and his daughter narrowly escaped injury in a booby trap blast at their home in Derry. The shop owner was driving his daughter to school when he triggered a bomb planted in the driveway of their home at Tirkeeran. The device was partially detonated when he drove over a piece of catgut stretched across the driveway. The army defused a 7lb device after a UDR man checked under his car before leaving for work. The army defused the device at Magheralane Road, Derry. The army found a box containing 50 detonators in a derelict building outside Omagh. Mr Alexander Watters was found shot dead near Banty Bridge, Co

Derry. Mr Watters, a bachelor left his home at Main Street, Tobermore to cycle to Draperstown. Two hours later he was found shot several times in the stomach. post near Derrylin and assaulted them. The gunmen were looking for army or RUC personnel. After the assault five men were challenged by the RUC and one man fired a number of shots at the Three gunmen forced police before Department of disappearing across the Agriculture workers into Mullan customs border Kinawley. towards Friday 18th March 1977 Mr Daniel Carville, aged 32, was shot dead as he shielded his son from the gunman s bullets. Mr Carville and his son were travelling by car from their home in the Ardoyne area of Belfast to collect an aunt from the Springfield Road. The gunmen fired into the car and Mr Carville lay across his son protecting him from the attack. Mr Carville, a father of 5 died at the scene after being shot four times in the head and back. The headquarters of Radio Rentals, a TV rental firm, was extensively damaged in a double blast attack. The fire, which followed, destroyed the premises at Northbrook Street on the Lisburn Road in Belfast. Staff in the building fled to safety minutes before the first bomb exploded, and no one was injured. A large amount of stock was destroyed in the bomb attack. Three lumps of concrete were thrown through the window of a peace woman s home in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast. Four shots were fired at a 20 year old man walking in the Rathcoole Estate. The shots fired by the occupant of a black taxi all missed. A small bomb was planted on the doorstep of a house in Cranmore Park in the Malone area of Belfast. The army defused it. The bomb consisted of 1lb of explosives attached to a can of petrol. The petrol ignited but caused little damage. A woman suffering from shock is helped away following bomb attacks in Belfast city centre Saturday 19th March 1977 Citybus services in west Belfast were disrupted when two buses were hijacked and burned at Celtic Park. The drivers of the buses were ordered out and a gang of youths set fire to both vehicles. Shots were fired at the army in the Whiterock Road area of Belfast. Three high velocity shots were fired and fire was returned. Two petrol bombs exploded in Norglen Parade in Belfast. There was no damage. The Newry Drama festival was interrupted by a bomb hoax. A 10 lb bomb found under a UDR mans car at Pinewood Avenue in Newry was defused by the army. A prison officer and his daughter were injured in a no warning bomb attack on their home at Brucevale Park, off Duncairn Avenue. 11

Monday 21st March 1977 In Belfast 120 workers had to run from a shirt factory after three armed men planted a bomb. The device was planted in Elwood s shirt factory in Exchange Street. The gunmen pushed past security officers and while one held a gun on staff the other two planted the bomb at the rear of the building. A few minutes after the bombers fled the bomb exploded causing blast damage at the back of the building and starting a small fire. There were no casualties. A booby trap bomb went off in the grounds of the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast. 12 Police officers were walking across a path near the sports complex in the grounds of the hospital when the bomb went off in a waste bin, blowing on of the officers to the ground. All three RUC men suffered from shock but were uninjured. The explosion damaged part of the sports complex. A young UDR man was fired on when he returned home near Magherafelt. A number of shots struck his house but the 26-year-old part time soldier was only grazed on the knee. A gang of 30 youths attacked an army foot patrol and three petrol Tuesday 22nd March 1977 A young girl suffered leg injures after a booby trap explosion in her brothers hijacked car. The car had been recovered and checked by the army and girl was kneeling on the seat of the Ford Escort when the bomb was triggered. The RUC stated that they were investigating whether the device had been left after the army had made their examination of the vehicle. Incendiary devices started a fire in the Smarti Pants boutique in High Street Omagh. A mother and her two young children were trapped in the building as the fire swept through the boutique. A 22-year-old man was taken to hospital in Belfast suffering bombs were thrown. The soldiers fired three rubber bullets to cover their withdrawal and a young boy was hit on the head by a rubber bullet. Following the incident local youths took material from a building site to build a barricade at the junction of Norglen Parade and Monagh Road. A car was set on fire at the barrier and a bus, which was taken from the Falls Road depot was burned out nearby. A youth was admitted to hospital with gunshot wounds to the knee after an incident in the Andersonstown area of Belfast. The windows of a house in Forth River Close from gunshot wounds in both legs. The man was found in Battenburg Street in the Shankill area. Eight shots were fired at the home of a reserve policeman near Portglenone. One shot went through the living room window but no one was hurt. Four members of the security forces manning a checkpoint were blasted with a shotgun but no one was hurt. The RUC found 80 bullets on waste ground at Whitla Street. An incendiary bomb was thrown into the photographer s studio on the Antrim Road in Belfast and caused slight damage to a carpet. A 22 year old man from Harcourt Drive in Belfast was charged with possessing an armalite rifle, a bolt action rifle, a double barrelled shotgun, 185 rounds of ammunition, 11 magazine clips and two magazines with intent. at Kildare Street, Newry, came under fire but no one was injured. A 30lb bomb exploded without warning at a checkpoint on Strand Road, Derry. No one was injured. A 39-year-old Belfast housewife was charged with possessing explosive substances, mainly five incendiary devices in Belfast.

Wednesday 23nd March 1977 Five men were charged with illegal possession of arms and explosives and with trying to murder members of the RUC after a boat chase on Carlingford Lough. station. A number of shots were fired as he drove past the Cupar Street junction. None of the bullets hit the policeman but he was cut by flying glass. A booby trap blast at the Co Antrim home of a part time RUC man injured a friend of his. The 22-year-old friend triggered off the booby trap in a barn. He received leg injuries in the blast but was not seriously hurt. A policeman was ambushed as he was going off duty at Springfield Road RUC City centre traffic was disrupted for four hours while the army defused a proxy bomb behind the City Hall. Two gunmen had hijacked a van carrying a load of gas cylinders on the Falls Road. They ordered the driver to go to Lower Clonard Street and there a bomb was loaded on board and the driver was directed to drive to the City Hall. Thursday 24th March 1977 A bomb on a hijacked fuel tanker exploded outside Donegall Pass RUC station. The tanker was hijacked in the Upper Springfield Road area with 1000 gallons of oil aboard. The driver was forced to drive it to the police station. The area was evacuated before the blast, which caused a fierce fire. Eight people were injured when a bomb exploded at the Northern Ireland Polytechnic as the Lord Chief Justice was giving at lecture. The building was extensively damaged when the bomb, which was concealed in a cupboard in the lecture theatre, exploded without warning. The lecture theatre was packed at the time of the explosion. A loyalist politician was injured in an attempt on his life. He was wounded in the arm by a gunman at Maghera post office who fired two shots at the politician. The army defused a 5lb bomb in a hijacked van parked on the approach A number of children playing in the Grosvenor Road area of Belfast escaped injury when shots were fired towards them. Two gunmen fired four bullets across a car park towards the children in Distillery Way. An army patrol in the area fired one shot back but no hits were claimed. road to the M1 at Kennedy Way, Belfast. The army in Derry uncovered a considerable amount of ammunition hidden in the grounds of a Mormon Church in the Shantallow area of the city. A routine patrol also found 600 rounds of ammunition under a manhole cover in the grounds of a church at Racecourse Road. For PDF back issues go to www.glenravel.com 13

Friday 25th March 1977 One man was killed and five others injured when a booby trap bomb exploded in their minibus as they set out for work at Greenisland. The explosion happened as the men, employed by Abbey Meat Packers in Whiteabbey, set off in their van from the front of the house where they were staying at Shore Road, Greenisland. A length of fishing line tied to a crankshaft had detonated the device. Mr Larry Potter from Cherry Park in Clones was the man who was killed. He was married with two children. The bomb-contained 3lb of explosives and damage was confined to the van. The house was not damaged at all. A St Christopher medallion saved the life of a 13-year-old girl who was shot on her doorstep. The medallion was hanging around her neck and took the force of a bullet and deflected it into her shoulder. The girl had been babysitting for neighbours when the gunmen knocked at the door in Upper Meadow Street in the New Lodge area. They fired 10 bullets through the door, hitting her three times. The gunmen s vehicle had been hijacked at Coningsby Street in the Oldpark area. An incendiary device exploded at Patterson s shop in High Street Lurgan, starting a fire, which destroyed the building. In Derry the army neutralised a grenade that had been spotted by a passer by at the rear of a derelict house in Bishop Street. Saturday 26th March 1977 A police patrol fired at four gunmen in north Belfast. The gunmen fired four shots at Copperfield Street. A passing RUC patrol returned fire and claimed a hit as the gunmen escaped towards the New Lodge. In Derry soldiers found bomb making equipment, two clocks attacked to batteries, in the back garden of a house in Cromore Gardens, Creggan. Monday 28th March 1977 The 63-year-old mother of a reserve RUC man was shot dead. Mrs Hester McMullan was shot twice and died at the scene. The gunmen opened up with armalites and machine guns, raking the small cottage where she lived. Mrs McMullan was in bed at the time, her daughter who was in the house escaped injury. Her son, who was not connected to the RUC, was fired on 17 times as he made his escape in a lorry. Bombers left a petrol tanker with a suspect bomb in Dunmurry. The tanker was hijacked and left near a petrol station. The area was evacuated and the army dealt with the device. A shot was fired from a Shankill Road bar at two newspaper delivery boys. The police searched the premises of the Salisbury Bar and found seven guns. Ten shots were fired near Carnagh at an army patrol but no hits were claimed. The same day a 12-man army patrol came under heavy attack after landing a helicopter at Culloville in south Armagh. The soldiers fired more than 300 bullets in return but no one was injured. A 12-man patrol was also fired on near Forkhill, 100 shots were fired. A motorist and his girlfriend were driving 14

along a road near Carrickmore when a bomb went off at the roadside a short distance in front of them. The couple got out to see what had happened and were fired on but escaped injury. The land mine, with wires leading away form it, contained about 25lb of explosives. Two police land rovers were fired on near the Donegall Road end of the M1 but there were no injuries. Later a twoman foot patrol was fired on from a speeding car in the same area. A number of shots were fired into the Windsor Bar at Downing Street off the Shankill Road but no one was injured. Incendiary bombs hidden in armchairs in the Wellington Park Hotel burned themselves out and caused only slight damage. In Fermanagh the army cleared a bomb that had been packed into a milk churn and left in a field near Rosslea. The bomb was not primed. In Derry a gunman fired a single shot at Creggan army camp but there were no casualties. No fire was returned. Five shots were fired through the front door of the home of a 77 year old man in Cliftondene Gardens in the Oldpark area of Belfast. Tuesday 29th March 1977 Two soldiers escaped with only minor injuries when a rocket hit their armoured vehicle as it drove along the Springfield Road in Belfast. The rocket attack was at the junction of the Whiterock and Springfield Roads and was fired from waste ground. High velocity shots were also fired at the vehicle that was driven away at speed. In Omagh the mother of a policeman escaped injury when she spotted a booby trap attached to the back door of her home. The woman partly opened the back door but noticed something suspicious outside. The army were called and defused the 3lb device, which was attached to the door handle with fishing line. The army defused a booby trap device left at the end of a lane near Cookstown of a part time UDR man. The landmine contained 80lb of explosives and was designed to go off when a length of fishing line was pulled. A man from the New Lodge area of Belfast as shot in an incident on Duncairn Gardens. The army defused a bomb in a van at Diamond Gardens, Finaghy. Wednesday 30th March 1977 At John Neills flourmill in College Place North the army dealt with four incendiary devices. They had been planted by six men who shouted a three-minute warning to the staff. Controlled explosions made the devices safe and the building was not damaged. The M1 motorway was closed for a time between Stockman s Lane and Lisburn after a suspect device was found under a bridge at Finaghy Road North. It turned out to be a hoax. Firebomb attack at McCue Dick s Timber Yard in Duncrue Street Gillespie and Wilsons store which was destroyed in an IRA attack 15

Thursday 31st March 1977 A bus driver drove into Derry with three bombs under his seat. His vehicle was hijacked in the Creggan and he was forced to take the bus and 6 passengers to Strand Road. Two of the bombs on the bus exploded in premises in the Strand Road but no one was injured. Minor damage was caused and the other devices were defused. A bomb left in Warwick s paint and paper store in Derry was carried outside onto the footpath where it exploded. A considerable amount of damage was caused. A second bomb exploded at Ballintines timber yard at McFarland Quay. Another 3lb bomb, with a petrol can attached, was defused. Minor damage was caused to the British customs post at Molenan. Nobody was hurt. Two shots were fired at a man at the corner of Adam Street and Canning Street. A car pulled up beside the man and two shots were fired from inside it. The man dived to the ground and a third shot was fired at him but he managed to escape. The gunman s car was later found in the New Lodge area. A gunman operating from Casement Park GAA ground fired a high velocity shot at a passing police Land Rover. It smashed a roof spotlight but no one was hurt. Fire was not returned. 16

Friday 1st April 1977 Soldiers ordered a man to drive his car, which contained a proxy bomb, away from Palace Barracks, Holywood. The man told soldiers at the barracks checkpoint that he had been ordered to take the bomb into the complex. His car had been hijacked on the Twinbrook Estate and he was told his family were being held at gunpoint. After the 30 minute drive through Belfast the man arrived at the barracks. A soldier there ordered him to take it to a patch of waste ground 40 yards away. The bomb exploded minutes later, smashing windows in nearby soldiers married quarters, but no one was injured. The explosion hurled parts of the vehicle over both lanes of the dual carriageway. A youth was seen dropping a parcel in the Cromore Gardens area of Derry. The parcel was found to contain two firebombs. A booby trap bomb, which injured a soldier in Whiterock Rock, was detonated from a nearby house. The bomb contained 2lb of explosives and was packed with scrap iron. The injured soldier was on foot patrol when the Saturday 2nd April 1977 A 33 year old man from Dermott Hill Road was charged with possessing a pistol, a rifle and 114 rounds of ammunition with intent. Six people were injured in Belfast when a heavy metal pipe was thrown at a Ford Transit van. The pipe was thrown from waste ground near the Boundary Bar at the transit van which was mistaken for a RUC vehicle. Five of the six injured were cut by flying glass and one, a 13 year old girl, was detained in hospital, A bomb left in a shipyard workers car exploded in the Hamilton Road car park in the Harbour Estate, as the army were about to deal with it. The owner of the car had opened the driver s door and spotted a suspicious looking parcel on the floor and alerted the army. No one was injured. In Armagh an incendiary device was found in a settee about device exploded and was seriously injured. Two youths planted a bomb, which badly damaged the Spar supermarket on the Albertbridge Road. The device exploded five minutes after the youths ran off and no one was injured. Three shots were fired at Forkhill police station but no one was injured. The army returned fire but claimed no hits. Firebomb attack on the Radio Rentals depot at Northbrook Street to be delivered from a on twice in the Lecky shop to a customer. It Road area of the was later defused Bogside and a high outside Lennox s store velocity shot was fired in Market Street. at Andersonstown Army patrols were fired police station in Belfast. 17

Monday 4th April 1977 Forty people were taken to hospital after two offices and shops. Mr Hugh William bombs exploded Clarke from Armagh without warning in two Street in cafes in Belfast. A baby Newtownhamilton was was among those shot dead near injured in the Mullaghbawn. The 31 explosions at the cafes in Rosemary Street. Each bomb contained 2lb of explosives and were placed inside the Rosemary Restaurant (Below) and Isobel year old was digging drains in a farm when three masked men carrying rifles ordered him into their car. They drove him to near Forkhill and then shot Ervine's café. A him three times in the warning telephone call was made just as the first bomb exploded in head. Two loyalist politicians denied that the father of three was the Rosemary a member of the Ulster Restaurant and it was followed a minute later Service Corps. The claim was made by the by the blast at Isobel South Armagh Ervine s a short Republican Action distance away. There was widespread blast damage to surrounding Force who stated that their members killed Mr Clarke. Mr Clarke was a Protestant, married and had 3 children, and at the time the IRA claimed that he was involved in the killing of an IRA man, the claim was strenuously denied by his widow. More than 20 bullets were fired at a police patrol in the New Lodge Road area. Four shots hit the rear of the police vehicle but none of the occupants were injured. The patrol was fired on as it went to investigate a petrol bombing in Duncairn Gardens. The bomb landed on the footpath, causing no damage or injury. The shots were fired from the junction of Edlingham Street and Upper Meadow Street. In a follow up search 17 spent armalite cases were found and several people were detained for questioning. A 21 year old man was shot as he tried to escape from police custody during an arms find at Kilkeel. Two rifles and a quantity of ammunition were found during the search at the Grange, Kilkeel. When the man ran off five shots were fired and the man was hit in the leg. The man was one of two men arrested earlier in April after an arms find near Kilkeel RUC station when two rifles, two loaded magazines, 200 rounds of ammunition and a rifle sight were found. 18

A bomb extensively damaged a house in Comber Street, off the Newtownards Road, after it had been left in the street by three youths in a hijacked car. 30 other houses in the street sustained damage. The car used by the bombers was hijacked earlier at the Bridge End and was found abandoned at Martin Street. Police who searched the Carnmoney social club at Glebe Road found more than 70 rounds of assorted ammunition including cartridges. shotgun In the Antrim Road area the RUC found 56 rounds of ammunition Tuesday 5th April 1977 Two gunmen entered the household goods wholesalers, Tohani and Sons in King Street and after rifling the till planted a bomb near a telephone and warned staff it would explode in 5 minutes. The bomb exploded shortly afterwards starting a fire that caused serious damage. A soldier died in hospital after being injured in a landmine explosion in Fermanagh. The soldier was named as Trooper Sean Prendergast, a 22 year old single man from Corby in England. He served with the 9/12 Lancers. He was injured when a landmine exploded under the armoured car in which he was travelling at Manger near Belleek. Another soldier in the Ferret scout car was not seriously hurt. A second armoured car in the patrol was not damaged. An explosion, followed by fire, caused extensive damage to a garage near Strabane. Two men, one armed, held up staff at McMullan s garage at Rabstown and planted a container under a car in the forecourt. The bomb exploded 30 minutes later, starting a fierce fire. No one was hurt. A 17 year old youth was shot in the left knee at an entry near Mayfair Street in the Oldpark area. A petrol bomb was thrown into the garden of a house in and a bag containing shotgun cartridges on waste ground at Chichester Park. Police searching a house at Euston Street, off the Woodstock Road, found a pistol and several rounds of ammunition in a backyard. A youth was found at Blackmountain Grove. No damage was caused and no one was hurt. A hoax bomb was planted at a garage near Dungannon. The army who went to the scene after an anonymous warning found a package filled with Gracehill Street in the Oldpark area with gunshot wounds to the right knee. An 18 year old man was shot in west Belfast. He was walking along the Glen Road when he was stopped by two men in a van who took him to Shaw s Road and shot him in the right thigh. earth. A Fermanagh UDR patrol discovered 1300lb of explosives at Mulnaburtlin, Lisnaskea. It was in 32 plastic bags hidden in a drain behind a ditch covered with heather. Wednesday 6th April 1977 A 5lb device was spotted below a window at a businessman s house at Harberton Avenue in the Malone Road area. The army defused the device. An army patrol discovered a.303 rifle and 8 bullets lying on waste ground at the junction of Brookvale Avenue and Brookvale Drive off the Antrim Road. The army found a box left outside the Five Star garage, Dungannon, was a hoax but nearby a real bomb was discovered in a hedge and blown up. A blast was heard in the Castlederg area and the army helicopter spotted a huge crater on a narrow road, which had been blocked. No one was injured. The army found an armalite rifle, which had been dumped on waste ground off the Antrim Road and in Whitehouse a fire started by an incendiary device destroyed a building suppliers store. 19

Thursday 7th April 1977 A binman was wounded in a shooting incident in Toomebridge. The man was shot in the leg. A bomb exploded on a hijacked beer lorry outside a Belfast city centre bank. (Below) The 150lb bomb had been left outside the Northern Bank in Donegall Square North and a number of shops and offices were badly damaged. Less than 30 minutes after the explosion the IRA said it was responsible. A number of shoppers were taken to hospital with shock and flying glass injured a security guard. Gunmen at the Donegall Road junction of the Falls Road hijacked the Bass lorry and the driver was ordered out, the lorry was driven away to load the bomb and then the driver was ordered to drive the lorry to the bank. The driver alerted the RUC at the Royal Avenue security barrier. The blast shattered panes of stained glass in the City Hall. Two policemen and a policewoman were injured in bomb attacks in Belfast. The first attack was made on a Department of Manpower senior principal officer and the other on a civil servant living in Castlehill Park, Belfast. The first bomb was spotted on the windowsill of the dining room of the senior officers home. It exploded as the area was being evacuated, causing severe damage. A minute later the second bomb exploded on the bathroom windowsill of the other house and shattered windows in the vicinity. A part time UDR lance corporal was shot dead as he drove from his Glenside Park home to an evening shift at the Du Pont factory in Derry. He was named as Gerald Cornelius Cloete, aged 46, and he was hit by five bullets in the head, chest and hand. Mr Cloete was married with five children and the gunmen crashed their car into his vehicle and shot him as he tried to get out. He was born in England and had served in the Royal Navy from 1946-1961. He had a son serving in the army also. Two gunmen fired five shots at an army foot patrol as it was going into the Whiterock community centre in west Belfast. No one was hurt and the patrol returned fire, but claimed no hits. A controlled explosion was carried out on a stolen car left outside a garage in Church Street, Antrim. Three people in the car escaped on foot after the car failed to stop at the security barrier. Nothing was found in the vehicle. Friday 8th April 1977 An ex RUC reservist was slightly injured when he was ambushed on the south Armagh border. The man was cut in the face when gullets shattered the windscreen of his lorry. He was ambushed at Carnagh near Keady as he drove his lorry along a quiet country road. An incendiary device caused a fire that 20

destroyed Una's baby shop on the Antrim Road, near the waterworks park. One shot was fired at an army patrol in Hamilton Street in Derry and later a gunman operating from Greehaw Road fired nine shots at an army checkpoint at Culmore Road. The gunman escaped by car and in a follow up operation cartridge cases were found at the scene. Near Keady in south Armagh soldiers opened fire on two gunmen spotted in a wood a few miles outside the town. No hits were claimed. Soldiers found a cassette type incendiary device, a quantity of micro switches, batteries and other items of bomb making material in the Sloan s Terrace area of Derry. The articles were found during a follow up search after bomb disposal experts were called to examine a suspect device in the Foyle Road which turned out to be a hoax. A bomb warning halted a British Rail container ship on passage from Belfast to Holyhead off the Isle of Man. Lifeboats took some of the crew off, but no bomb was found. The only casualty was a crewman who fell in the sea going back on board. Bomb attack on Donegall Pass Barrack using an oil lorry which turned into a massive fireball Saturday 9th April 1977 Two RUC men were shot dead in south Derry. They were named as Constable Kenneth William Sheehan aged 19 and 22 year old Constable John McCracken and were shot dead in the Moneymore area. The two policemen were going to check out three men in a car when the men opened fire without warning. The constables died at the scene and a third officer was injured. The gunmen made off on foot after their getaway car got stuck in a ditch. Shots were exchanged with a second police patrol but there were no hits. Two Kilkeel men appeared at a special court in Newcastle charged with possessing rifle and ammunition. Three buses were destroyed and three more badly damaged in a fire at the Falls Road bus depot. Four men, one armed with a pistol, held up security staff, sprinkled petrol over two buses and set them alight. The men said two devices had been planted at the depot and the army defused one device that was a small quantity of explosives linked to a can of petrol. The second device exploded but caused little damage. No one was hurt. 21

William Sheehan In Randalstown, Orr's furniture warehouse was gutted in an incendiary attack. The warehouse, consisting of four wooden huts and the contents were completely destroyed. A 28 year old man was shot in the leg at Springhill Avenue in Belfast. A former part time policeman escaped with John McCracken minor cuts on his face and hands after two shots were fired through the windscreen of his lorry in south Armagh. The shooting happened in the Keady area. There was a petrol bomb attack on a house in Sudan Street but the family living there were uninjured. A milk bottle petrol bomb was thrown on to the garage roof. The bullet riddled car in which the policemen were killed There was a bomb attack on the Pomeroy home of a retired schoolteacher. The explosion severely damaged the furniture and the roof but the 77- year-old man and his wife who were asleep at the back of the house were uninjured. A suspect bag found behind the British Legion Hall in Bangor turned out to be a hoax. The army dealt with the bag after an anonymous caller gave a fiveminute warning about a bomb behind the building. 22

Tuesday 12th April 1977 Mr Miles Vincent McGrogan aged 22 of Coolnasilla Avenue, Belfast was found shot dead at Colin Glen Road, Dunmurry. He had been shot through the temple and the killing had been carried out on the spot. Mr McGrogan had been acquitted of killing Constable Brian Bell and Constable John Ross in 1974. Another acquitted man Vincent Hetherington was killed in July 1976. Both men were accused of being informers, used by British Intelligence to feed false names of informers to the IRA. 49 year old Mr John Short of New Barnsley Crescent was shot dead by three gunmen from Wednesday 13th April 1977 An unexploded firebomb was found under stairs of Dunne s Stores in Henry Street, Dublin. A bomb partially exploded at Valentines filling station at Coalisland Road, Dungannon. A warning had been phone to a local priest and the area was cleared. A bomb hoax in Keady forced the evacuation of dozens of families for a number of hours. Thursday 14th April 1977 A bomb was planted in the centre of a multi storey block in Belfast. The bombers used a lift to raise the bomb to the second floor. It later went off causing considerable damage to Marlborough House in Victoria Street. The army defused a firebomb found in Eason s bookshop in O Connell Street Dublin. Five shots were fired at soldiers and RUC men by an IRA sniper operating outside Springfield Road RUC station. No one was hurt but one soldier working on the perimeter fence fell to the ground, injuring his knee. Two controlled explosions were carried out during an examination of a house at Strand Road, Derry. There had been reports of an explosion, a dog was seen running from the house, but no traces of a blast were found. the Provisional IRA as he walked with the father of a ten year old boy who had just been killed by a bomb. Kieran McMenamin was killed by a no warning parcel bomb at Beechmount Avenue where Official IRA supporters were gathering for the Easter Sunday parade to Milltown Cemetery. Five others were injured in the blast. Mr Short were on their way to tell other members of the family about the boys death when he was shot dead, another relative was shot in the legs but Kieran s father was uninjured. 20 shots were later fired when provisional and Official supporters clashed outside the cemetery gates. Friday 15th April 1977 A 34 year old police slight damage to the constable was shot and sitting room of the injured while he sat in house at Moylinn, Co his car with his two sons Armagh. outside a butchers shop A group of children in Lurgan. Gunmen in escaped injury when a a car opened fire with detonator they found handguns. The bullets exploded without smashed through three warning. The children of the cars doors. The brought a box children were sitting in containing several the back seat. detonators back to A man escaped injury Mashona Street in east when a petrol bomb was Belfast, after finding it thrown into his home. beside the railway at The bomb caused only Holywood. Saturday 16th April 1977 A soldier was injured in A hoard of petrol bombs a south Armagh bomb was found in an east attack. It happened Belfast street by while a patrol was children who were passing the derelict playing in the area. Six town hall building in gallons of petrol and 16 Market Square, pieces of wood wrapped Crossmaglen. A 5lb in fabric were found in bomb went off an unoccupied house in knocking the soldier to Arran Street in the Short the ground. Strand area. 23

Sergeant William Edgar, of the Royal Corps of Transport, aged 34, married with three children was shot dead while visiting Derry. He was originally from Derry and had arrived on a family visit. He had been drinking in a bar in the Waterside area and his body was found in a cemetery between the Bogside and the Creggan. The IRA claimed that he was working as an intelligence officer for 24 the army. He was shot three times in the head. A soldier was injured when gunmen opened fire on his patrol in Fermanagh. The patrol was ambushed near Newtownbutler and although the soldiers fired back they did not claim any hits. Soldiers and police found a pistol and a number of rounds of ammunition when they searched Twinbrook Library in Gardenmore Road, Dunmurry. Monday 18th April 1977 A 3lb device was found in Lisburn Orange Hall, after south down MP Mr Enoch Powell had left the building. The bomb as later destroyed in a controlled explosion. Trevor McKibben, 19, from Etna Drive in north Belfast was shot dead at the junction of Flax Street and Butler Street. He was seen carrying a weapon in a plastic bag and when he turned round to face the army he was shot dead. An air rifle was found at the scene. He was a member of the IRA 3rd Belfast battalion. Shots were fired at an army patrol in Springhill Crescent. One soldier was hit. Several bursts of automatic fire raked the car of a RUC man in Ahoghill, hitting the man on the ankle. Another officer inside the car escaped unhurt,

as did a youth and two schoolgirls standing in a phone kiosk nearby. In Derry residents of the Foyle Road area escaped injury after a mortar bomb attack on the army camp at Craigavon Bridge. 16 houses were damaged in the attack and three children were taken to hospital suffering from minor injuries and shock. They were attending a youth club when one mortar bomb exploded without warning at the junction of Lower Bennet Street and Foyle Road. Windows of the club were blown in. Two more mortar bombs landed in Lower Bennet Street. Slates were blown off houses and Tuesday 19th April 1977 Mr William Strathearn aged 39, was shot dead when he was tricked by a gunman who told him that he needed tablets for a sick child. Mr Strathearn owned the VG store at Portglenone Road in Ahoghill and he opened the door and was shot twice in the head. He died almost immediately. Mr Strathearn was married with 7 children and was a well-respected member of his local community. He was originally from near Bellaghy and was known in GAA circles having played Gaelic football for Derry County. Two RUC officers were charged and found guilty of the shooting. The army defused a tanker bomb in Belfast. The tanker was carrying over 1000 gallons of central heating oil and was hijacked in the Brompton Park area of Ardoyne. The driver was ordered to take the ranker to the army post in Flax Street and when he got there alerted the army who told him to drive to waste ground nearby. Two bombs were on board, one in the cab and one in one of the tanks. The bomb in the cab turned out to be a hoax but when the other device was lifted out it exploded but no one was hurt and little damage was caused. Two petrol bombs were thrown at a police mobile patrol in Twinbrook but both failed to ignite and there were no injuries and no damage. In Derry an army patrol found 50 shotgun cartridges hidden in a plastic bag in a hedge on the Steelstown Road on the outskirts of the city. windows were smashed in the blast. Another bomb landed close to the camp but no one was hurt. A fifth bomb landed on waste ground behind the firing point at Alexandra Place. In a follow up operation the army found five mortar tubes at Alexandra Place. Over 1000 rounds of ammunition and an air pistol were found on the shore at Cherryvalley, near Comber. Police in Omagh found a pistol in a hedge on the Derry Road. A young girl was shot during a struggle between two youths and two RUC men. The girl had been standing in a crowd at Churchill Park when the shooting took place. Wednesday 20th April 1977 One person was killed and many others injured when a car bomb exploded as people gathered for the funeral of a young IRA man in Belfast. The bomb was in a car in Etna Drive in the Ardoyne area. 23 people were taken to the Mater hospital for treatment. The car was ripped apart by the blast and people standing by the blast were thrown to the ground by the force. Many of the injured were hit by flying pieces of metal form the blasted car. The man who was killed was Sean Campbell aged 19, a single man from Parkview Street. He was killed when the 100lb UVF bomb exploded with no warning. He had just left a snooker club and was walking past the car when he caught the full force of the blast. Another youth who was injured in the blast died the next day. He was John McBride aged 18, and single from Flax Street in the Ardoyne area. He died in the Mater Hospital from his injuries. Police questioned seven men after dawn raids on houses in the Springfield Road area and also the Markets area of Belfast. The RUC came under fire in the Sandy Row area of Belfast. Two policemen were on foot patrol at Albion Street when three or four shots were fired from City Street. Fire was returned but no one was injured. 25

Loyalist car bomb attack on an IRA members funeral in North Belfast The army spent over 2 Carriers van was Park and a box loaded The box was examined, hours dealing with a hoax outside the Flax Street base in Belfast. A commandeered by two masked men at the junction of Balcombe into it. The driver was then ordered to drive it to Flax Street and shout a controlled explosion carried out and the "bomb" was declared a Northern Ireland Drive and Brompton a five-minute warning. hoax. Thursday 21st April 1977 An army patrol in Derry found bomb making material and ammunition in a derelict house at Moore 26 Street in the Brandywell area. They found two parcels in a plastic bag containing 6lb of explosives, a clock, Friday 22nd April 1977 Mr Brian Smith aged 24 and married with 2 children was shot dead as he and three workmates walked along Snugville Street in the Shankill area. From Tyndale Gardens in the Ballysillan area of north Belfast Mr Smith was on his way to a Shankill Road bank to cash his pay check. The car used in the attack was hijacked at Ardoyne and later found abandoned in the Oldpark area. Two of his workmates were also injured in eh attack and the incident was later claimed by the IRA under the cover name Republican Action Force. A 16-year-old youth was shot in both arms when two gunmen called at a battery and length of fuse. Later in the same area a small number of rounds of ammunition was found in a plastic bag. house at Ulsterville Gardens in south Belfast. Two men went to the door of the house and one entered through the open front door. He went into the living room and shot the youth who was washing dishes in the kitchen. A Territorial Army reservist was seriously injured when gunmen got a ten year old girl to call Eight high velocity shots were fired at Coalisland RUC station but no one was hurt. Fire was not returned. her father to the front door of their home at Tildarg Avenue, Suffolk. When he came to the front door, he was hit in the legs and back by a number of shots. At least three men are thought to have been involved. In a routine army patrol in Derry a rifle and 19 bullets were found hidden in a pipe in the city cemetery.

Bomb attack in a lecture room at the Ulster College at Jordanstown in which Lord MacDermott was giving a talk. RIGHT - some of the injured being removed to hospital Saturday 23rd April 1977 Brendan O Callaghan from Carrigart Avenue, Suffolk was shot dead by the army near the Hunting Lodge bar in the Lenadoon area. Mr O Callaghan was 21 and married with 2 children and worked as a lorry driver. He was described by the IRA as part of a three man patrol and the army said he was shot when he was seen to cock a pistol. It was claimed that a pistol was later found in the car in which he was travelling with two other men. The IRA released a statement in which Mr O Callaghan was described as a volunteer and a member of a patrol group designed to protect republican areas after the recent 27

28

bombing and shootings carried out by British and loyalist elements. A blast bomb was thrown into the garden of a house at Finaghy Road North. It broke windows in a nearby shop-k houses and a garage but no one was hurt. A device was thrown over a wall into a tyre storage unit in Templemore Avenue causing a huge blaze but damage to the building was slight. In another garage attack the army took away bombmaking equipment from the scene of the blast. It happened in a block of garages and the bomb started a small fire in Horn Drive, Belfast. A three year old boy was injured in a booby trap explosion was not Monday 25th April 1977 There was an explosion at a chapel near Dungiven. The target of the attack was unknown and no injuries were reported. A Newry furniture store was destroyed by an explosion. Two men entered the store of McKnight s in Mill Street and left on the floor a parcel, which they said, was a bomb and would go off in a few minutes. The bomb exploded 8 minutes later. A firebomb attacked wrecked the Super Deal furniture store at Merchants Quay in Newry. The army came under attacked when they were fired on in the Turf Lodge area of Andersonstown, but no one was hurt. Two shots were fired at soldiers at Gransha Road, Turf Lodge. Three were returned and afterwards a crowd stoned the soldiers. There was a gun attack at the junction of Kenard Avenue and Tullymore Gardens in Andersonstown. At the Norglen road soldiers fired six rubber bullets and four youths were detained when rioting broke out. FACING PAGE - Firebomb attack on shops on the Antrim Road seriously hurt. The blast happened in the New Barnsley area and it was thought that a claymore type device was used. It was detonated by remote control. A soldier was hit in the eye with flying glass after youths smashed the windscreens of two army land rovers in the Derrybeg estate in Newry. A foot patrol in the area at the time also Mr Patrick Joseph Devlin was shot dead as he drank in the Legahory Inn. Two men walked into the bar and opened fire with a machine gun and revolver into the crowd shortly before closing time. Three men and a woman were also hit by bullets and three others were treated for shock. One man was hit on the left hand and another on came under attack but no one was seriously hurt. In Derry two bombs exploded causing slight damage in the former Tillie and Henderson shirt factory. A 4lb bomb exploded on one of the floors which was used as a furniture store and the other, an 8lb device, exploded in a section occupied by an electrical appliance firm. the right hand and the woman was hit on the wrist. Mr Devlin aged 72 and married with three children was a pub security guard and was letting a young girl out of the bar when the gunmen burst in. Mr Devlin was hit twice in the head as he tried to prevent the gunmen entering the lounge bar; they went into the public bar instead. Tuesday 26th April 1977 An RPG 7 Russian rocket landed on a 30 year old shift worker as he slept in the front room of his Springfield Road home in west Belfast. The blast sent him crashing to the floor, and caused extensive damage to the house. It was thought that the intended target was a post office van being escorted by the army, which was passing the house at the time. A 2lb bomb planted by two men in a café in Donegall Street, Belfast, was defused by the army. At the same time part of the M1 motorway between Moira and 29

Lurgan was closed for an hour while the bomb disposal team blew up an abandoned car. 30 The RUC found a bomb in east Belfast while chasing two men. The men were spotted Wednesday 27th April 1977 A man was shot at his work in the Shankill area of Belfast. The man was shot five times in the wrists stomach and groin. He was in an office of a building works in Riga Street when two gunmen burst in. They opened fire form close range but the man managed to stagger out onto the street and was taken to hospital. A woman was treated for shock after a bomb went off at her Greencastle home. The bomb was placed at the front door of the house in Lansdowne Park and caused internal structural damage. The woman and her tow sons were in bed at the time and her elderly husband was in the kitchen at the rear of the house. No one was injured. One shot was fired at Andersonstown RUC station but the bullet hit a Sanger and no one was hurt. Fire was not returned. The army found 2 lb of explosives and a detonator in a plastic bag hidden in the city cemetery in Derry. The explosives were neutralised. carrying a parcel on eh Albertbridge Road and they ran off after they saw the RUC. One man The performance of Rigoletto at the ABC cinema in Belfast city centre was interrupted three times because of a bomb alert. There was was detained at Mount Street and a 6lb bomb was found. The army defused it. also a 20-minute evacuation of the cinema while suspicious parked cars outside were examined. Friday 29th April 1977 Two RUC detectives were wounded in an exchange of gunfire with youths in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast. One was shot in the back and leg and the other suffered a leg injury. The policemen had challenged four youths and then a short gun battle flared. A bomb exploded on the roof of a crowded Belfast pub. The 1lb bomb was thrown on to the roof of the Club Bar in University Street from a derelict building next door. The blast damaged the roof and ceiling. No one of the 200 customers was injured. A suspect bomb planted by two men at a Lisburn filling station was an elaborate hoax. There was a shooting in Armagh when an

army mobile patrol came under fire form gunmen operating in the Culdee Estate. Six shots were fired but no one was injured and fire was not returned. A part time UDR captain was shot dead in Dungannon. Businessman Eric Shiells, 49, married with 6 children was shot dead outside his Northland Row home. He was shot dead by the IRA as he got into his car outside his home. Mr Shiells was director of a building firm and a former president of Dungannon Rugby Club. 31

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