1991 Cappagh killings
| 1991 Cappagh killings | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Troubles | |
 |
|
| Location | Boyle's Bar, Cappagh, County Tyrone Northern Ireland |
| Coordinates | 54°32′29.40″N 6°55′27.19″W / 54.5415000°N 6.9242194°WCoordinates: 54°32′29.40″N 6°55′27.19″W / 54.5415000°N 6.9242194°W |
| Date | 3 March 1991 10:30 pm |
|
Attack type
|
Shooting |
| Deaths | 4 |
|
Non-fatal injuries
|
1 |
| Perpetrator | Ulster Volunteer Force |
The 1991 Cappagh killings was a gun attack by the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) on 3 March 1991 in the village of Cappagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. A unit of the UVF's Mid-Ulster Brigade drove to the staunchly republican village and shot dead three Provisional IRA volunteers and a Catholic civilian at Boyle's Bar.
Although nobody was ever charged in connection with the killings, it was widely believed by nationalists and much of the press that the attack had been planned and led by Billy Wright, the leader of the Mid-Ulster Brigade's Portadown unit. Wright himself took credit for this and boasted to the Guardian newspaper, "I would look back and say Cappagh was probably our best".
There were allegations of collusion between the UVF and the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) in the shootings.
On the evening of Sunday 3 March 1991, a unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade drove into the heartland of the East Tyrone IRA, intent on wiping out an entire IRA unit that was based in the County Tyrone village of Cappagh. One team of the UVF men waited outside Boyle's Bar, whilst a second team waited on the outskirts of the town. At 10.30 p.m. when a car pulled-up in the carpark outside the bar, the UVF gunmen opened fire, killing Provisional IRA volunteers John Quinn (23), Dwayne O'Donnell (17) and Malcolm Nugent (20). The victims and car were riddled with bullets. Thomas G. Mitchell stated in his book, Native vs. Settler: ethnic conflict in Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and South Africa', that the dead men were part of an IRA Active Service Unit (ASU). The gunmen then attempted to enter the pub but were unable to after those inside the bar realised what was happening and barricaded the door. Unable to get into the bar a UVF gunman shot his weapon in through a high open toilet window killing a local civilian, Thomas Armstrong (50). A 21-year-old man was badly wounded. Their intended target, ASU commander Brian Arthurs, escaped with his life by crouching behind the bar during the shooting. According to the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), the three IRA volunteers had only chosen to go to the pub "on the spur of the moment", thus they were unlikely to have been the UVF's original target.
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Wikipedia