A NEW inquiry into the SAS shooting dead of eight IRA men and a civilian in Loughgall, Co Armagh, more than 24 years ago has confirmed a previous British army statement that the IRA fired first, it was reported yesterday.
The Historical Enquiries Team, which examines past killings of the Troubles, would make no comment yesterday on a report by the Belfast Telegraphthat it had found the IRA members could not have been safely arrested and that the British soldiers were within their rights to open fire.
A spokeswoman for the team said it dealt with the families on a strictly confidential basis and could make no comment on the report that the IRA members fired first and that the SAS return of fire was justified.
The Loughgall shootings on May 8th, 1987, were the worst single blow the IRA suffered in terms of loss of life.
The eight IRA men killed were all members of its east Tyrone brigade which was viewed as part of the “cutting edge” of the organisation. It was involved in numerous other gun and bomb attacks and some of the weapons recovered from the scene were found to have been used in up to seven killings.
The IRA unit was attempting to bomb the Loughgall RUC station. They drove into the town with a hijacked digger carrying a 200lb bomb and a blue Toyota van.
A total of 24 SAS British army soldiers, who had intelligence on the attack, were primed and lying in wait for the attack.
Some 600 shots were fired and all the IRA members died at the scene.
As Maireád Kelly, sister of the IRA’s east Tyrone commander Patrick Kelly pointed out yesterday, the report that the IRA fired first was not new.
An unidentified SAS commander told the inquest into the nine killings that the IRA fired first on the evening of the attack.
However, if the report is correct that the team found the SAS was justified in opening fire, then it is likely to anger the families of the IRA members, as they claim the men could have been arrested.
The IRA men killed were its east Tyrone commander Patrick Kelly (32), Declan Arthurs (21), Séamus Donnelly (19), Michael Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), James Lynagh (32), Patrick McKearney (32) and Gerard O’Callaghan (29).
A 36-year-old civilian, Anthony Hughes, who was driving his car into Loughgall at the time was also killed by the SAS in the shooting.
His brother, who was in the vehicle with him, was hit 14 times but survived.
An RUC officer who dealt with the press after the attack, Chief Supt Harry Breen, was later killed by the IRA along the Border in south Armagh with his colleague Supt Bob Buchanan – killings that are the subject of the Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin.
Sinn Féin Assembly member Barry McElduff, whose brother-in-law Patrick Kelly was killed in the incident, said the men were the victims of a “British government shoot-to-kill policy”.
