Corporals killings

Corporals killings
Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner
Father Alec Reid administers the last rites to Corporal David Howes.
Location	Andersonstown, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates	54°34′27.45″N 5°59′7.87″W / 54.5742917°N 5.9855194°W / 54.5742917; -5.9855194Coordinates: 54°34′27.45″N 5°59′7.87″W / 54.5742917°N 5.9855194°W / 54.5742917; -5.9855194
Date	19 March 1988
Target	British Army personnel
Attack type	Shooting, stabbing
Deaths	2

British Army corporals David Howes and Derek Wood were killed by the Provisional IRA on 19 March 1988 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in an event which became known as the corporals killings. The off-duty soldiers were wearing plain-clothes when they were killed by the IRA after encountering the funeral procession of an IRA member whilst returning from Belfast to Lisburn. Three days before, loyalist paramilitary Michael Stone had attacked an IRA funeral and killed three people. Believing the soldiers were loyalists intent on repeating Stone's attack, dozens of people surrounded and attacked their car. During this, Corporal Wood drew his service pistol and fired a shot in the air. The soldiers were then dragged from the car, beaten, and taken to nearby waste ground where they were stripped and shot dead.

The incident was filmed by television cameras and the images have been described as some of the "most dramatic and harrowing" of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

The killings took place against a backdrop of violence at high-profile Irish republican funerals. A heavy security presence was criticized as instigating unrest, leading authorities to adopt a "hands off" policy with respect to policing IRA funerals. On 6 March 1988, three unarmed IRA members preparing for a bomb attack on the band of the Royal Anglian Regiment were killed by members of the Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar during Operation Flavius. Their unpoliced funerals in Belfast's Milltown Cemetery on 16 March were attacked by Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member Michael Stone with pistols and hand grenades, in what became known as the Milltown Cemetery attack. Three people were killed and more than 60 wounded, one of the dead being IRA member Caoimhín Mac Brádaigh (Kevin Brady). Mac Brádaigh's funeral, just three days after Stone's attack, took place amid an extremely fearful and tense atmosphere, those attending being in trepidation of another loyalist attack. The attendance at the funeral included large numbers of IRA members who acted as stewards.