Fresh inquests ordered into 1976 Kingsmill massacre of 10 Protestant workmen

New inquests into the deaths of 10 Protestant workers murdered in Co Armagh in January 1976 have been ordered by the North’s attorney general.

They died after they were ordered out of their minibus at Kingsmill near Bessbrook by armed men and told to identify themselves by religion.

One Catholic was told to run off before the gunmen opened fire, killing 10 men. Another man survived despite being shot 18 times.

The new inquests were ordered by John Larkin. He has informed coroner John Leckey new information has come to light following an examination of the atrocity by the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team, which re-examines unsolved murders from the Troubles.

The South Armagh Republican Action Force claimed responsibility, but it is suspected the IRA, on ceasefire at the time, was behind the attack.

Solicitor Kevin Winters, representing the next of kin of one of the murdered men, John McConville, said his family welcomed the announcement. He added they wanted "to put on record their appreciation of the work of the HET in helping to reach this point in their long-running campaign to get justice and some form of closure for John".

Mr Winters’s company said: “One of the key findings in the HET report refers to intelligence material which said that an ‘ex British soldier unidentified was involved’.

“This extraordinary allegation together with a raft of other identified failings in the original RUC investigation will be examined at the inquest.”