The Troubles 12

TROUBLESTHE

ISSUE 12 April 1972TROUBLESTHE

ELEVEN DIEIN WEEK OFVIOLENCE

IRA LEADERGUNNED DOWN

IN BELFAST

ELEVEN DIEIN WEEK OFVIOLENCE

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It can often be a contentious issue of debate of when and how Northern Ireland’s ‘Troubles’ began, who and what isto blame, and even which event in case led us to where we are now. You can go back 30 years, or even 300 years andbeyond 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 mostrecent conflict, we must mark a defining point of start, which we have taken as partition itself and from which webegan in Issue 1. In turn again, we feel it is equally important to give you the reader some understanding whyevents 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 eventscompiled by people from different parts of Belfast who lived through them. Our objective as local historians is tocompile what we hope will be as near as possible a definitive reference to events as they unfolded through the lastthree decades.In terms of research we have used as much material as possible and from diverse perspectives. We areconfident that we have covered events as they were reported at the time. If however you feel that we have eitherleft something out or indeed got something wrong we are more than happy to hear from you. As mentioned abovethis series of publications is the historical recording of the Troubles and all corrections are more than welcome.

GLENRAVEL PUBLICATIONSASHTON CENTRELEPPER STREET

BELFAST BT15 2DNTel: (028) 9020 2100 • Fax: (028) 9020 2227

E-Mail: [email protected]

This series of publications 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 usematerial that has been placed in the public domain. We try to acknowledge all the copyright holders but sometimesthis is not possible. If you claim credit for something that has appeared in this publication then we will be happyto know about it so that we can make the appropriate acknowledgements.

THE TROUBLESA CHRONOLOGY OF THE NORTHERN IRELAND CONFLICT

NEWSPAPERS

BELFAST NEWSLETTERVarious issues for period covered

BELFAST TELEGRAPHVarious issues for period covered

IRISH NEWSVarious issues for period covered

IRISH PRESSVarious issues for period covered

SOURCE MATERIALPUBLICATIONS

LOST LIVESDavid McKitterick, Seamus Kelters,

Brian Feeney & Chris ThorntonThis publication is used for the list of those

who died at the back of each issue

THE TROUBLES Page 3

APRIL 1972

RIGHT - Bomb attack in Church Lane

Saturday 1st April 1972Coffin bomb explodes in BelfastSix people have been treated forshock in Belfast after a massivebomb, hidden inside a hearse, ex-ploded in a city centre street. Thebomb, estimated to contain about150lb of explosives is thought tohave been hidden inside a coffin.The hearse exploded minutes after it hadbeen driven into Church Lane.

Saturday 1st April 1972New Secretary of State visitstroopsThe Secretary of State, Mr. WilliamWhitelaw, has toured Army units inthe Belfast area and had talks withBrigadier Frank Kitson and com-manding officers of various units.The discussions were aimed at giv-ing him an overall assessment ofevents and reactions said an Armyspokesman. The units visited byMr. Whitelaw were the 1st Battal-ion, Kings Own Scottish Borders;the 1st Battalion, The Gloucester-shire Regiment, the 1st Battalion,The Wales and the 2nd Battalion,The Parachute Regiment.

Saturday 1st April 1972Revolver discoveredAn old, rusty .38 Colt revolver hasbeen found on the platform of GreatVictoria Street station during asearch by troops.

Saturday 1st April 1972Easter marchesThe Army will be “playing it byear” during the 21 Republican com-

memorations which will be held inthroughout the North on Sunday tomark the 1916 Easter Rising. Itseems likely that the Government’sban on marches will be broken atsome of the ceremonies, particu-larly those in Belfast, Derry andArmagh.

Saturday 1st April 1972Boy loses arm in explosionA 16-year-old boy from WhitecliffeParade has been admitted to hospi-tal after an explosion in theWhiterock road area of Belfast. The

youth, who has not been named,was found with severe injuries af-ter the blast and the RUC have saidthat he lost an arm in the explosion.It is not known how he was injured.

Saturday 1st April 1972Man shot in BelfastA man has been shot in the armduring an incident at a house inCliftonpark Avenue, off theCliftonville Road. The RUC havesaid that two youths approached thehouse, which is occupied by aCatholic family. They demandedto be allowed into the house butwere refused admission. Shortly

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after this two shots were fired at thehouse and a man, who was appar-ently at a window, was wounded.The man, who has not been identi-fied, was taken to the Mater Hospi-tal where his condition is describedas not serious.

Saturday 1st April 1972Soldier shot in BelfastA soldier has been shot andwounded when a high velocity ri-fle was accidentally discharged inan Army post in Belfast. An Armyspokesman has not given any moredetails on the shooting other thanto say that the soldier is seriouslyill.

Saturday 1st April 1972Bomb explodes at vacant houseTwo women have been treated inhospital for shock after a bomb ex-ploded in a vacant house in Belfast.The house at Crumlin Road wasbadly damaged in the blast, as wereother houses in the vicinity.

Saturday 1st April 1972UDR patrol attackedTwo gunmen have opened fire onan Ulster Defence Regiment afterthey stopped a stolen car at FinaghyRoad North, near the M1 motorway.At least 10 shots were fired at thepatrol from the direction of theRiverdale estate. The shots wereheard by a patrol of the 2nd FieldRegiment of the Royal Artillery,who went to the aid of the UDRmen. Troops returned fire and be-lieve they may have hit one of thegunmen. The car and its occupantswere able to make good escape un-der the cover of the firing.

Saturday 1st April 1972Petrol bombs thrown at family’shomeA car has been slightly damagedwhen a number of petrol bombswere thrown at a house which isoccupied by a Catholic family inClara Park. No one was injured inthe attack.

Saturday 1st April 1972Army ambushed in Shantallowarea of DerryGunmen have attacked theBrandywell Army post in the earlyhours of the morning in two sepa-rate incidents. No one was injuredin the attacks.

Saturday 1st April 1972Gelignite discovered in NewryTroops have discovered a quantityof gelignite and a length of fuse atDrumalane Road, Newry.

Saturday 1st April 1972Ballygawley bombedThe RUC have said that the bombwhich damaged a local telephone

exchange contained 10lb of gelig-nite and had been planted inside thebuilding.

Saturday 1st April 1972Schoolboys on arms chargeTwo boys, aged 14 and 15, havebeen remanded in custody until the13th April, when they appeared at aspecial court in Lisburn on chargesof hi-jacking a car at Englishtown,Suffolk. They were charged withstealing a Fiat car, valued at £1,500and with having a firearm and fiverounds of ammunition with intentto endanger life.

Saturday 1st April 1972Protest priest released fromprisonA Catholic priest, who was freedfour hours after beginning a twomonth sentence for non completionof a census form, has said that hewas annoyed that his £7 fine waspaid anonymously. Fr. MalachyMurphy, of St. Anne’s Derriaghy,said that of the original 25 priestswho refused to fill in census formsin protest over the way in which thelaw was operated in the North; onlysix priests now face imprisonment.

THE TROUBLES Page 5

FACING PAGE - Provisional IRAleader Sean MacStiofain watching arepublician paradeRIGHT - Removing barricades aroundDivis Flats.

Saturday 1st April 1972Arson attack on CommunityCentreThe RUC are treating as maliciousa fire which badly damaged a com-munity centre at Greencastle,Newtownabbey. A door at the topof a fire escape had been forced andthe blaze caused extensive damageto one floor. The hall, owned by StJoseph’s Catholic Church, is usedas a community centre and disco-theque frequented mostly by Prot-estants.

Saturday 1st April 1972Ignore Vanguard Strike says UnionThe Amalgamated CorporationTenants’ Association has advisedtenants against supporting a possi-ble call for a rent and rates strike.The association said that in the pastit has warned tenants not to backthe civil disobedience campaign, asthey would eventually be responsi-ble for all debts.

Saturday 1st April 1972DUP man opposes Vanguard strikeA spokesman for Bangor Demo-cratic Unionist Party has said thatthey were against the Vanguard rentand rates strike as it would it wouldlead to hardships, particularlyamong the poorer members of thecommunity, “who are not in any fi-nancial position to pay back largeamounts of arrears.” Loyalists, hesaid, “should consider if a policy of

anarchy is not going to make theBritish Parliament regard the unionin an even worse light than they doat the moment.”Interviewed on UTV the DUPleader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said thatStormont would never return and hefelt that any Unionists who toldpeople that they should fight for thereturn of Stormont were being un-realistic and dishonest. He thoughtwhat should take place was the to-tal integration of Northern Irelandinto the Westminster Government.

Saturday 1st April 1972Maidstone detainees on HungerStrikeThe 132 detainees on board theprison ship Maidstone, moored in

Belfast Lough, have gone on hun-ger strike. They told prison staffthat they would not eat again untilall detainees and internees held un-der the Special Powers Act werereleased. The Maidstone men have,however, been refusing prison foodon and off for some time and havebeen relying on food parcels sentto the ship by friends and relatives.Food parcels were stopped earlierin the week after a disturbance onthe ship during which a detaineebroke his arm after falling down-stairs. The men had barricadedthemselves in and refused to letprison staff make a count after asearch had revealed hacksaws,hacksaw blades and other smalltools hidden in their quarters.

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RIGHT - IRA bomb attack inCastlereagh Street

Troops were called in to removebarricades and restore order. AnArmy spokesman said afterwardsthat food parcels to the ship wouldbe stopped while the clearing upoperations went on. In a letter tothe Irish Press the detainees saidthat they are now on the fifth weekof rejecting prison food and theyallege that it was previously foundto contain broken glass and humanhair.

Saturday 1st April 1972Rifles foundThree rifles have been found dur-ing a search in Andersonstown,Belfast.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Troops under fire in DerryTroops have come under fire in twoseparate attacks in Derry. Fire wasreturned on one occasion and theArmy believe that a gunman mayhave been wounded in RossvilleStreet.The first incident occurred just be-fore one o’clock when a gunmanfired three shots at a patrol in theCreggan Road area. An Armyspokesman said that a possible hitwas claimed. There were no Armycasualties.

Shots were also exchanged betweengunmen and a patrol of the UlsterDefence Regiment near the villageof Coagh, County Tyrone. The pa-trol opened fire when two gunmenthey observed getting into a carfailed to answer their challenge.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Army post attackedGunmen have fired two shots at theArmy post at the Falls bus depot.An Army spokesman has said thatthe shots were fired from the direc-tion of the City Cemetery. Two menwere seen running away but troopsdid not return fire.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Top Official IRA man heldThe Army has said that another highranking IRA officer has been de-tained in Belfast. The man, said tobe the quartermaster of the BelfastBrigade Staff of the Official IRAwas detained at the weekend. Nodetails have been given about thecapture. The man is being ques-tioned by Special Branch detec-tives.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Youth on grenade chargeA juvenile has appeared in a spe-cial court in a Portadown RUC bar-racks charged with having grenadesin his possession on Sunday, March26th. He was one of two boys whohad been remanded on this charge

and the other failed to appear. Hewas remanded to a further court on£100 personal bail and a further£100 entered into by his father andmother.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Scarman report to be publishedsoonThe Secretary of State, Mr.Whitelaw is expected to release forpublication the report of theScarman tribunal on the rioting of1969 within the next week. The tri-bunal, set up by Prime Minister,Major Chichester Clark, to investi-gate the riots in Belfast, Derry andelsewhere in the summer of 1969.The tribunal sat for 170 days andheard 400 witnesses. The reportwas sent to the Government beforedirect rule was imposed and it is notup to Mr. Whitelaw to authorize itspublication.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Gelignite found on rail lineTwelve sticks of explosives havebeen found on a Scottish railwayline which links the Stranraer-Larneferry service. A railway signalman

THE TROUBLES Page 7

found the gelignite type explosivesnear the Killochan colliery in SouthAyreshire.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Bogside Community Associationto be formedA Bogside “Corporation” is to bechosen within the next seven daysby the 6,000 people over the age of18, who live in the area. TheCreggan estate is excluded from theelections.The new body, to be known as theBogside Community Association, isbeing organized by a group ofteachers in conjunction with ten-ants’ associations and street com-mittees. Its aims are to improve theexisting physical environment ofthe area, to utilize and expand ex-isting recreational facilities and toset up a body of citizens who willdiscourage anti-social behaviour,vandalism and robbery in theBogside. The area is to be dividedinto 12 districts, each selecting onerepresentative. There will be nocandidates as such. Instead, theelection will be conducted along thelines of the American “write-in” sothat people can vote for anyone theywish. The 12 elected representa-tives may co-opt seven more peo-ple in an advisory capacity. Theorganizers emphasise that the aimsof the association are neither politi-cal nor military. Elections will takeplace on April 10th.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Soldiers on standby a Unity FlatsTroops and police were on duty atUnity Flats when a Protestant pa-rade went by. A crowd of about 100

youths marched in front of a fluteband, which was followed byaround 80 marching men. Therewere no reports of trouble.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Women figure prominently inEaster ParadeWomen figured prominently at sev-eral Republican commemorations.For the first time women presidedat the National Graves Association(now a Provisional organization)commemoration at Milltown Cem-etery, Belfast. And in several otherceremonies throughout the North,women figured prominently at anumber of centres.

In Belfast the reason given at theProvisional event was that becauseof the increasing role which womenmembers of the Republican move-ment had played in the past twoyears, they were being given promi-nence as a mark of respect. Mrs.Maire Drumm, recently releasedfrom prison, told the crowd that twowomen members of the movementhad been killed during the past year.At the Official event, a woman readthe main speech.Political observers have voiced anopinion that the women’s promi-nence could be due to their assum-ing a more active role in the Repub-lican Movement, but that it couldalso be to counteract the “womenfor peace” image given by 500Andersonstown housewives who

have called on the IRA Provisionalsto stop their campaign.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Soldier is seriously woundedAn Army officer is very seriouslyill after being shot in Derry. Theofficer, a 26-year-old man fromDevon was rushed to AltnagelvinHospital, where he is described asbeing “very seriously ill.” The sol-dier had gone with his unit to thejunction of Abercorn Road andBishop Street, where a group ofyouths had attacked theHorsemarket sub post office. Thecrowd was dispersed but a fire wasstarted in vacant premises in Bishop

Street and the fire brigade put outthe blaze. A short time later a gun-man fired two shots from BarrackStreet and the Lieutenant was hit inthe shoulder.

Tuesday 4th April 1972High velocity shots fired in BelfastEight high velocity shots have beenfired at a 2nd Field Regiment RApatrol in Lenadoon Avenue. Oneshot was fired at the gunman butthere were no casualties. Six shotswere also fired at an Army check-point at the Belfast end of the M1.A burst of automatic fire was alsodirected at a patrol in BingnianDrive. There were no casualties.Three low velocity shots were alsofired at an Army check point atAndersonstown bus depot.

Political observers have voiced an opinion that the women’s promi-nence could be due to their assuming a more active role in theRepublican Movement, but that it could also be to counteract the“women for peace” image given by 500 Andersonstown housewiveswho have called on the IRA Provisionals to stop their campaign.

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Tuesday 4th April 1972Soldier shot on Springfield RoadA soldier has been shot in the thighby a sniper at Springfield Road butan Army spokesman has describedthe wound as “not serious.”

Tuesday 4th April 1972Children attack soldierA soldier had a badly cut eye afterabout thirty children, each agedabout seven years old, had stonedtroops at Beechmount bungalows.The trooper was given first aid bylocal people.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Holy Cross school attackedThe Holy Cross School, ChiefStreet, has been extensively dam-aged by fire, which is believed tohave been started by youths. Threeclassrooms were completely de-stroyed and the two remaining areout of use.

Tuesday 4th April 1972CS gas used in DerryTroops have used CS gas to dispersea crowd of youths in the WilliamStreet area who attacked and dam-aged the gates of an electricity substation at the junction of WilliamStreet and Little James Street.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Shots fired at Derry’s wallsEight shots were fired at an obser-vation post on the city’s walls fromHoward Street but there were nocasualties. Three shots were alsofired at a patrol in Broke Park fromthe direction of the South CregganRoad. Fire was not returned.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Strabane observation post comesunder attackFour low velocity shots have beenfired at an observation post inStrabane. The shots were fired froma car on the southern side of theborder.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Garage bombedWilliam’s Garage in Thomas Street,Dungannon, has suffered superfi-cial damage in an explosion justbefore midnight. There were nocasualties.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Van bomb explodes in MagherafeltA van bomb has exploded in RaineyStreet, Magherafelt. The bomb,which exploded on Sunday night,injured a number of people. Theywere treated in the Mid Ulster Hos-pital.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Telephone Exchange bombedAn automatic telephone exchangeat Tulacross, about eight miles fromCookstown, has been destroyed byan explosion.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Army turns blind eye on Easter ParadesThousands of Republicans defiedthe parades ban and marched at cen-tres throughout the North in tradi-

tional Easter Rising commemora-tion ceremonies over the weekend.Troops adhered to a policy of“softly softly” and there were noconfrontations, although in Ar-magh, local youths threw stones atsome of those taking part in thecommemorations.In Derry, IRA Chief of Staff, SeanMacStiofain, addressed thousandsof supporters and called on theCatholic women of the North to“support the men who were carry-ing on the fight.” A second com-memoration, held by the OfficialRepublicans, was significantlysmaller. There were no incidentsat either of the parades.In Belfast, more than 10,000 peo-ple attended marches along the FallsRoad to Milltown Cemetery to hearboth the Officials and Provisionalscall upon their members to “fighton.”

Tuesday 4th April 1972IRA precautionsMany members of the ProvisionalIRA, including Chief of Staff, SeanMacStiofain have been stayingaway from their homes to avoid at-tempts on their lives. Recently SeanMacStiofain and Cathal Goulding,leader of the Official IRA, receivedbomb parcels in the post.MacSiofain is said to have movedhis wife and young daughter fromhis Navan home to a different town.

THE TROUBLES Page 9

RIGHT - Troops removing barricadesfrom across Albert Street

Another Provisional leader Mr.David O’Connell has been alternat-ing between Dublin and hisBundoran home.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Mother of 10 buriedAn estimated 2,000 people haveattended the funeral in Belfast ofMrs. Martha Crawford, the 39-year-old mother of ten killed in a gunbattle on Thursday night betweenthe British Army and the IRA.

Tuesday 4th April 1972‘Women for peace’ meetingA ‘Women for peace’ meeting inBelfast’s Andersonstown estate onMonday, broke up in confusionwhen 100 women supporters of theIRA entered the hall where it wasbeing held. Supporters of the IRAare said to have sang songs, peltedthe women with eggs and torn upleaflets. The group ‘Women forpeace’ have denied that they calledon women in the area to hand overmen to the army.

Tuesday 4th April 1972“Arm all Protestants” says Min-isterAn American minister of religion,who is raising money to aid Protes-tants in the North, has said that hewould like to see all Protestanthouseholders armed. The Rev. PaulLindstrom (32), minister of theChurch of Christian Liberty (non-denominational) at ProspectHeights, Chicago, is one of the or-ganizers of the Fiends of Northern

Ireland Committee, which wasformed in March and has about 500members in and around Chicago.He spent part of Monday in Belfast,seeing Protestant church leaders,including Ian Paisley. Mr.Lindstrom has said that he was notconcerned that the money he wouldraise might be spent on arms, buthe would stipulate that cash wouldnot go to people who might use thearms for offensive purposes.

Tuesday 4th April 1972“End the bombings” say OfficialsA call to end anti-civilian bombingshas been made at Easter Com-memoration ceremonies organizedby the Official wing of the Repub-lican Movement. In a statementread out at different centres the Of-ficials condemned “anti-civilianbombings” which have they said,“totally split the community on sec-tarian lines”.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Fires in Belfast and NewryA Newry laundry was badly dam-aged by fire and in Belfast firemenwere fighting to control a blaze at atyre depot in the dock area. Therewere reports of explosions in thebuilding as flames swept throughthe Central Laundry in Newry andlarge clouds of smoke could be seenup to six miles away. It is thoughtthat many of the explosions werecaused by chemicals expanding dueto the intense heat. The Belfast firewas at the Shaw Tyre Company’sdepot at Duncrue Street. Fanned bya strong wing the flames could beseen over a mile away.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Dance hall raidThree men carrying machine gunshave held up the organizers of adance in the South Derry village ofDesertmartin early on Monday

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LEFT - Bomb attack on Smithfield BusStation

morning and stole the takingsamounting to almost £1,000. Themoney included £250 belonging tothe band, the Cotton Mill Boys,from Dublin. The dance was heldin St. Mary’s Hall, which is attachedto the local Catholic Church.

Tuesday 4th April 1972Internees get paroleTwo Long Kesh internees, theDerry republican Sean Keenan andhis son-in-law, Cyril Caning, wereparoled at the weekend to attend thefuneral of Mr. Canning’s infant son,Colm, who died suddenly on Sun-day.

Another Derry internee at LongKesh, Michael McNaught, was alsoreleased to attend the funeral of hisinfant son Eamon. Both funeralstook place on Monday afternoon.

Wednesday 5th April 197260 internees may be releasedAbout 60 internees may be releasedfrom Long Kesh internment campon the recommendation of the Sec-retary of State, Mr. Whitelaw. Al-though no date for the release hasyet been given, it is understood thatthe cases of a number of interneeshave already been considered byMr. Whitelaw. A Ministry of HomeAffairs spokesman would not com-ment on reports that the first of theinternees were to be released withinthe next two to three weeks.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Arms found in hospital groundsTroops carrying out a routine searchin the Falls and area of Belfast havefound arms and ammunition buriedin the grounds of a hospital. The

RUC said that three Martini Henryrifles and about 250 rounds of as-sorted ammunition were discoveredduring a search in the grounds ofOur Lady’s Hospital atBeechmount. An Army spokesmansaid the arms and ammunition weresealed up and concealed at allot-ments.The search was carried out by menof the 1st Battalion, the Kings’ OwnScottish Borderers. It is understoodthat the hospital authorities had noknowledge of the arms beingdumped in the hospital.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Military funeral for bomb expertArmy bomb disposal expert MajorBernard Charles Calladene (39),killed by a car bomb in Belfast sixdays ago, has been buried with fullmilitary honours in York. MajorCalladene died trying to remove abomb from a stolen car parked inWellington Street.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Two hurt by car bombExtensive damage has been causedand two people slightly injuredwhen a car bomb exploded in Bel-fast. Dozens of shops inCastlereagh Street were extensivelydamaged when the 30 lb bomb ex-ploded in a stolen Ford Anglia ataround 11.00 am. The RUC hadreceived a telephone warning thata bomb had been left at a clubpremises in the street.

THE TROUBLES Page 11

Wednesday 5th April 1972Incendiary bomb explodes inBelfastAn incendiary bomb has explodedat the Youth Employment offices atCollege Square North. The bombcaused a fire which swept throughthe seven storey building. Therewere no casualties and the buildingwas evacuated before the blast.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Soldier shot in DerryA soldier manning a vehicle check-point in Derry has been shot by asniper. The soldier, who was onduty at Abercorn Road, was shotonce by an IRA sniper. The Armyhave stated that the gunman was notseen but it is believed that he firedfrom Barrack Street, hitting the sol-dier in the arm. Troops did not re-turn fire.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Donegal Street bomb toll nowsevenAn elderly man who lost his rightleg in the Donegal Street car bombblast in March has died in a Belfasthospital. The man, named as Mr.Frank Millar of York Parade, wasthe most seriously injured of the 146people who were taken to hospitalfollowing the blast. Six men – twoRUC men, three Corporation binmen and a motorist died when thebomb exploded without warning inthe street.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Gelignite found on railwayMore gelignite has been discoveredon the Stranraer rail line which con-nects with the Irish boat service.British rail have said that a furthertwelve sticks of explosives havebeen found north of Kilkerran be-

tween Girvan and Ayre.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Six RUC men injured on ShankillSix RUC men and a police car havebeen damaged when a crowd at-tacked the RUC on the ShankillRoad. The trouble started when acrowd of 500 began stoning thepolice after junior Orangemen re-turned home from the demonstra-tion in Bangor. None of the RUCmen were seriously injured and noarrests were made.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Belfast attacksTwo high velocity shots have beenfired at the New Barnsley Armypost from the Ballymurphy estate.Fire was returned but there were noinjuries. Later another two shotswere fired at the Henry TaggartArmy post. Fire was again returnedat a gunman in Divismore Park, butno one was injured.

An Army post on the SpringfieldRoad was undamaged when twobombs were thrown into the rearyard of the building from BenaresStreet. No one was injured. Troopsalso escaped injury when a bombwas thrown at a one-ton Army per-sonnel carrier near the junction ofCrumlin Road and Hooker Street.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Bank bombedAn explosion has wrecked the re-maining part of the Ulster Bank atAndersonstown, which wasbombed some time ago. Windowsin surrounding buildings were shat-tered but no one was injured.


Wednesday 5th April 1972Garage destroyed in attackA garage at the rear of a house atRavenhill Road has been destroyedby fire which the RUC believe wasstarted deliberately. No one wasinjured in the attack.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Gunman wounded in DerryThe Army in Derry say that theymay have hit a gunman after hefired a single shot at an Army ob-servation post on the city walls fromLong Tower Street. Earlier troopsfired back after a gunman fired asingle shot at an observation postat Bligh’s Lane. Soldiers have alsoreturned fire at a gunman in theBrandywell area but he was not hit.Two shots were later fired at a pa-trol in Rosemount Avenue.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Ballymena telephone exchangedemolishedOver 200 subscribers were leftwithout telephones after the localautomatic telephone exchange atGlarryford, about eight miles fromBallymena, was damaged by a 10-15lb bomb.

Wednesday 5th April 1972RUC men injured in StrabaneAn RUC constable and sergeanthave been injured by stones whichwere thrown by youths in the Foun-tain Street and Bridge Street areas.Also in Strabane soldiers and po-lice have removed a barricade oftelephone poles in the Ballycolmanestate.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Car hi-jacked in CoalislandTwo young men armed with revolv-ers have hi-jacked a car atAnaghmore, Coalisland. The car,a Vauxhall Victor is still reportedmissing.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Malicious fire in LurganExtensive damage has been causedto the store of the factory Cause-way Textiles at Kilmore. The RUCare treating the blaze as malicious.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Man shot in leg in BelfastThe police are investigating theshooting of a man from Unity Flats.The man, who was wounded in theleg, was shot shortly after midnightin North Queen Street. The RUChave said that neither they nor theArmy were involved in the shoot-ing. The man’s condition is not saidto be serious.

Wednesday 5th April 1972IRA Chief of Staff living at homeThe leader of the Provisional IRA,Sean MacStiofain, is reported to beback living in his Navan home, buthis wife and daughter are believedto have gone to Cork. MacStiofanwas away from his home last weekand this had given rise to specula-tion that the family had moved dueto threats. The MacStiofain hometelephone number in Navan hasbeen changed, and now the Provi-sional leader’s number is ex-direc-tory.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Army detonates explosivesMore than 100lbs of gelignitewhich was found in two milk churnson a roadway near Camlough Lakein South Armagh were detonated byan Army bomb disposal team. Thetwo loud explosions, 15 minutesapart, were heard over a wide areaof South Down and South Armagh.

Wednesday 5th April 1972Pirate radio on the air againThe “Belfast Worker’s Radio”,backed by the Official IRA, hasgone on the air again, playing re-quests for internees. The station,which is thought to be based in theFalls area, was broadcasting on 242metres on the medium wave. TheOfficial IRA claimed it had therange of about 5 miles. Army sig-nals experts are monitoring thebroadcasts.

Thursday 6th April 1972Hunger strike at MagilliganSomeinternees at Magilligan camp arethought to have gone on hungerstrike in sympathy with 130 detain-ees who are now in their eighth dayof their protest fast on board theprison ship Maidstone. It is be-lieved that although they have re-fused to take food, their protest isnot against conditions in the CountyDerry camp. According to a state-ment released by relatives of theMaidstone detainees, four of themen are in a state of collapse andthat they are semi-conscious.” TheMinistry of Home Affairs have de-nied this and stated that none of themen needed medical treatment.


Thursday 6th April 1972Scarman report into riots of 1969Reporting on its investigation intorioting in the North in the summerof 1969, the Scarman tribunal re-jects the theory that it added up to aplot to overthrow the Governmentor mount an armed insurrection.The tribunal has also said that nei-ther the IRA nor any Protestant or-ganisation nor anybody else, planeda campaign of riots. They werecommunal disturbances arisingfrom a complex political, social andeconomic situation. JusticeScarman’s verdict n the evens of1969 is published in two volumesof almost 200,000 words. It costs£3 at the Stationary Office.

Thursday 6th April 1972Shots fired in DerryTwo shots have been fired at Bligh’sLane Army post in Derry shortlybefore noon. The Army say theyreturned fire but did not hit anyone.

Thursday 6th April 1972RUC alleges youth was shot tostart troubleA 16-year-old youth is in hospitalwith a leg injury after being shotfrom a passing car in what policedescribe as an attempt by the IRAto stir up trouble in a protestant area.The youth, from Kitchener Streetwas walking along Tates Avenuebefore 8.00pm when one of fourmen fired a number of shots from astolen car and he was struck in theleg. A nail bomb was also thrownfrom the vehicle but caused littledamage. The car was later foundabandoned in Islandbawn Street inthe Falls Road area.

Thursday 6th April 1972RUC men escape injuryTwo RUC men and two civiliansescaped injury when about 20 shotswere fired at them from a car nearthe Northern Ireland Carriers’ yardin Musgrave Street. The RUC menhad stopped to talk to two menwhen the incident occurred and thecar sped from the scene before firecould be returned.

Thursday 6th April 1972Belfast garage bombedShortly after 7.00pm four men heldup a pump attendant at J. E. Coul-ter’s garage, Chichester Street andstole £10. Before they left theyplaced an explosive charge under aninspection cover at a petrol pump,which exploded ten minutes latercausing minor damage. The raid-er’s also stole a car from the garageand when this was found later inSeymour Street, it was suspectedthat it might also be booby trapped.The door of the car was blown offby a controlled explosion but noth-ing was found.

Thursday 6th April 1972Bomb explodes near M1 bridgeA small bomb, estimated to be beenbetween 1 and 2 lbs, has explodedin a scrapyard near the M1 bridgeat Finaghy. Military police inves-

tigating the blast, which did notdamage the bridge but broke win-dows, had one shot fired at themfrom the Finaghy Road North area.

Thursday 6th April 1972Nail bombs thrown in BelfastThree nail bombs were thrown atan Army post at Fallswater Street.Two exploded causing no damageand the third was defused.

Thursday 6th April 1972Telescopic sights found duringsearchTwo telescopic sights and more than2,000 rounds of ammunition havebeen found by an Army patrol in ahouse in Rockville Street.

Thursday 6th April 1972Garage bombed in DungivenDungiven Motors in Station Roadhas been severely damaged by twobombs estimated at 5-10lbs and 20-50lbs. The explosions were fol-lowed by a fire. No one was in-jured in the attack.

Also in the Dungiven area, Armyexplosives experts removed a 5lbbomb which had been placed out-side the Feeney telephone ex-change, which is situated betweenDungiven and Clady.

A 16-year-old youth is in hospital with a leg injuryafter being shot from a passing car in what policedescribe as an attempt by the IRA to stir up trouble in aprotestant area. The youth, from Kitchener Street waswalking along Tates Avenue before 8.00pm when oneof four men fired a number of shots from a stolen carand he was struck in the leg.


LEFT AND FACING PAGE - Clearingup the remains of victims after anexplosion at Bawnmore Grove

Thursday 6th April 1972Soldiers attacked in DerryTroops in Derry have come undermachinegun fire three times ataround 8.00am but no one was in-jured. A burst of shots was firedfrom a car in Foyle Road at theBrandywell Army post. Later twobursts were fired at troops on thecity walls. Fire was not returned.Also in Derry shots were fired atthe Bligh’s Lane Army post. Therewere no casualties and fire was not

returned. Troops also fired twiceat a gunman seen in the Bogsideafter shots were fired at the citywalls. No one was injured and thegunman was not hit. Overnightplastic bullets were fired by soldiersin an effort to disperse youths in theWilliam Street area.

Thursday 6th April 1972Unstable gelignite detonatedA quantity of gelignite, describedby an Army spokesman as being in

an unstable condition, was blownup by Army bomb disposal expertsat Armagh County Council’s high-ways maintenance depot. Residentsof the nearby, mainly Protestantestate were advised to open theirwindows to minimize blast damage.

Thursday 6th April 1972Children go south for a breakCatholic and Protestant childrenfrom the North, some with theirmothers, are spending holidays inthe south. The holiday schemes,which has so far provided holidaysfor 100’s children, are financed bylocal people in Cork and elsewhere.

Thursday 6th April 1972IRA are using radio minesRadio command mines are beingused by the IRA employ “readilyobtainable model aircraft radio-controlled receivers and relays, ac-cording to an article in the New Sci-entist magazine. The article, by afreelance defence correspondent,reveals that the equipment works ona fixed frequency of 27mhz. Brit-ish Army patrols suspecting cross-border mining operations nowtransmit 27mhz signals to detonateany radio controlled mines in thearea. It is said that if the IRA ob-tain variable frequency equipmentwill electronic counter-measuresbecome more difficult.The correspondent has also aid thathe believes that the Army may beusing equipment which can triggeroff other explosives and blow up


IRA bombers themselves. “Theordinary match-head electric deto-nator, much used by the IRA, read-ily becomes unstable in the pres-ence of an appropriate radio fre-quency field. The explosion on theMarch 9th in Clonard Gardens, Bel-fast, in which four Provisional IRAbombers were killed, may havebeen deliberately triggered by anappropriate Army electromagneticemissions in the neighbourhood.”

Thursday 6th April 1972Tory group backs Irish unityA pressure group at St AndrewsUniversity will attempt on Saturday

at the Scottish Young Conservativeannual conference in Motherwell tohave a motion adopted calling onthe Government to work towardsthe re-unification of Ireland.

The motion says: “That this confer-ence considers that the partition ofIreland has failed and urges HerMajesty’s Government to work to-wards the re-unification of Ireland.”

It is unlikely however to be ac-cepted and appears to have beenignored by both members of theGovernment and senior officials ofthe Conservative Party in Scotland.

Thursday 6th April 1972Eight in Sinn Fein office fireTwo children and six adults havebeen taken to a hospital in Dublinwhen a fire damaged the offices ofSinn Fein in Gardiner Street. Thecause of the outbreak is unknownand was confined to the basement.

Thursday 6th April 1972Bomb at clothing firmA bomb has exploded at a clothingwarehouse in Upper DunmurryLane. The explosion has been fol-lowed by a serious fire.

Friday 7th April 1972Two men die in bomb attackTwo men and possibly a third havebeen killed in a powerful explosionwhich demolished a block of lockup garages at Whitehouse on theoutskirts of Belfast. It is thoughtthat the victims were close to thecentre of the blast which demol-ished five of the eight garages in theblock in the Bawnmore estate.

Friday 7th April 1972IRA Campaign to continueThe Provisional IRA has made itknown through their leadership inDublin and Sinn Fein that despitethe calls for peace they are commit-ted to continuing their campaign. Ina BBC radio interview Mr. RoryBrady of Sinn Fein stated that: “Themood of the people and the fight-ing organizations is to finish it offthis time for all time and put an endto Northern Ireland politics.”

Friday 7th April 1972Troops ambushed in DerryTroops have fought an hour-long


gun battle with several IRA gunmenin open country between theCreggan estate and the border.There were no Army casualties buta Army spokesman has said that oneof the gunmen was seen to fall. Theeight-man patrol of the 5th LightRegiment Royal Artillery had beenair-lifted into the area by helicop-ter for a routine operation. Theycame under fire from two or threegunmen hiding in hedges and anArmy spokesman has said thatabout 70 rounds were directed atthem. Fire was returned but no onewas hit.

Friday 7th April 1972Prison ship to closeThe phasing out of internment be-gan today with the release of 47 in-ternees and 26 detainees on the or-ders of Secretary of State, Mr.Whitelaw. The internees releasedwere not asked to give an undertak-ing about their future behaviour.The Secretary of State has said thathe is personally reviewing the casesof the 728 people still interned. Mr.Whitelaw has also told reporters atStormont Castle that the Maidstonewill cease to be a prison ship withinthe next few days.

Friday 7th April 1972Bomb explodes in ArmaghTwo people have been slightly in-jured when a bomb exploded in anArmagh Street. The bomb, whichwas concealed in a van, explodedoutside a public house in ScotchStreet. A telephone warning hadbeen given 30 minutes prior to theexplosion and the vehicle carryingthe bomb was quickly located.

Friday 7th April 1972Aldershot bomb – 3 remandedThree men charged after the bombblast at the Paratroopers mess inAldershot have been remanded incustody once more.

Friday 7th April 1972Public House bombed near An-trimAn overnight bomb has badly dam-aged a public house at Dungonnell,near Antrim just ten minutes after atelephone warning was received.The bomb, containing between fiveand ten pounds of gelignite, wasconcealed in a Ford Corsair.

Friday 7th April 1972RUC man shot in New BarnsleyA man has been shot in the ankleduring a attack on an RUC post inNew Barnsley. Five shots werefired by the gunman but only onestruck the RUC man. Troops in thepost returned fire and a man wasseen to fall.

Friday 7th April 1972Army post attackedFour shots were fired and a nailbomb thrown at an Army patrol atthe junction of the Falls Road andFallswater Street but there were nocasualties. Later two shots werefired at police on duty at theSpringmartin estate but there wereno injuries.

Three shots were later fired at theHenry Taggart Army post. Soldiersreturned fire but the gunman es-caped. A nail bomb also explodedin the Ballymurphy area but theArmy have said that there werenone of their men in the area at thetime.

Friday 7th April 1972Gunfire heard in ArdoyneIn Ardoyne a burst of automaticgunfire was directed along BerwickRoad but the target was unknownand there were no reported casual-ties.


Friday 7th April 1972Off-licence petrol bombedTwo youths have thrown a lightedtin of petrol through the glass doorof Grove off-licence but the ownermanaged to put out the flames anddamage was slight.

Friday 7th April 1972Bomb explodes beside Army ve-hicleIt has been reported that during ri-oting in Derry a boy, described asbeing very young, planted a bombbeside an Army vehicle. The vehi-cle had been put out of action bytwo nail bombs and seconds afterthe child planted the bomb it ex-ploded. No one was injured.

Friday 7th April 1972Soldier shot in DerryA soldier shot while travelling in avehicle along a riverside track fromthe Brandywell Army post to a postunder Craigavon Bridge is said tobe comfortable. He was hit in theleft elbow.

Friday 7th April 1972Raiders carry out arms searchThe RUC in Derry are investigat-ing an incident in which four men,two armed, entered a house inSteelstown to look for arms. Theraiders, two of whom were maskedand carrying a sub-machine gun anda pistol held up the occupants whilethey searched the house. They leftwithout finding anything.

Friday 7th April 1972Bank robbed while Army bandplaysThree gunmen have raided theMunster and Leinster bank inWilliam Street and escaped with£600. Staff were held up at gun-point and afterwards a stolen carwas found close to the town. Whilethe raid was taking lace, the bandof the Royal Regiment of Fusilierswas playing in Market Square just300 yards away.

Friday 7th April 1972Booby-trapped house is blown upAn Army bomb expert has blownup a house at Clonoe after troopsdiscovered that it had been booby-

trapped. Several bombs were foundin the house. One was found in thechimney and others were under thefloor.

Friday 7th April 1972RUC seeks bomb witnessesPolice investigating the bomb blastwhich killed two men outsideLimavady RUC base are anxious tointerview anyone who saw any ofthe two vehicles. The vehicles area dark blue Morris 1100 car, regis-tration number FKW58D and aFord Transit Television Rentals van,registration number VFR778K.

Friday 7th April 1972Armagh bomb attackAfter a bomb warning was investi-

gated and found to be false, troopswere once again called to MarketStreet, Armagh. A bomb later ex-ploded but no one was injured. Itis estimated that the device con-tained 30 lb of gelignite.

Friday 7th April 1972Bomb in GarageA man, woman and their teenagedaughter have been rushed to hos-pital after a bomb ripped throughthe garage of W. J. McCrum atClifton Street. All three are suffer-ing from facial cuts but they are notthought to be seriously injured. Theexplosion shattered windows inClifton Street old peoples home.

Saturday 8th April 1972Europa Hotel bombedThe luxury Europa Hotel in Belfasthas once again been rocked by amassive bomb. The bomb, whichhad been placed in a hi-jacked lorry,shattered windows in the hotel andsurrounding buildings. The ten sto-rey Chamber of Commerce build-ing opposite was also damaged.Troops and RUC personnel man-aged to evacuate everyone from thearea before the bomb, which wasparked in Glengall Street near theUnionist Party headquarters, ex-ploded. An Army officer at thescene estimated the bomb to havecontained between 20 and 30lb ofgelignite.The officer has said that the size ofthe bomb didn’t surprise him be-cause the “narrow street and highbuildings helped to magnify the ef-fects of the blast.

A man, woman and their teenage daughter have beenrushed to hospital after a bomb ripped through thegarage of W. J. McCrum at Clifton Street. All three aresuffering from facial cuts.


Saturday 8th April 1972Belfast flour mill attackedA Belfast flourmill has been dam-aged by a bomb attack. The JamesNeill flourmill at College PlaceNorth was badly damaged whenone of two bombs exploded there.The second bomb was discoveredseveral hours later after an anony-mous phone call to the RUC.

Saturday 8th April 1972Bomb thrown at Army postA bomb has been thrown from a carat the RUC Army post at the VereFoster School in the New Barnsleyestate. It exploded harmlessly andthree shots were then fired from thecar. Soldiers returned fire but didnot hit the car. A short time latersoldiers fired at a man seen carry-ing a rifle in Moyard Park, but heescaped.

Saturday 8th April 1972Dead soldier namedThe soldier shot dead outside theHenry Taggart Memorial Hall onFriday afternoon has been namedas being Lance Corporal Peter Sime(22) of the Kings Own ScottishBorderers. He was married with ason aged 1 He is originally fromGlasgow and he joined the Armysix years ago.

Saturday 8th April 1972USC man woundedThe condition of the former UlsterSpecial Constabulary member whowas shot outside his Newry homeis described as being fair. The man,who was working at his car at Sec-

ond Avenue, in the Derrybeg estate,is one of the few remaining Protes-tants living there.

Saturday 8th April 1972Shots fired in DerryThree shots have been fired at anArmy posts in Derry but no one washurt. The Army returned fire fromthe Bligh’s Lane post at a gunmanbut he was not hit.

Saturday 8th April 1972Filling station bombedA County Tyrone filling station atLisnahull, on the BallygawleyRoad, Dungannon, has been almostcompletely wrecked by an explo-sion. The premises were closed atthe time and no one was injured.

Saturday 8th April 1972Release of internees celebratedBonfires have been light throughout the North and bin lids bangedto celebrate the release of 73 intern-ees and detainees.

Saturday 8th April 1972UDR men quitNineteen men of the Ulster DefenceRegiment’s 1st Battalion, E Com-pany, at Larne have resigned be-cause they are dissatisfied with theduties they have to do. The men,almost all from the one platoon,gave notice that they were quitting

in an interview with the companiescommanding officer. They com-plained that they were mainly onguard duty and were not used forroad checks and mobile patrols.The men also are angry that theyhave not been deployed in their lo-cal areas where they feel that theirknowledge would be of value. Twoor three UDR men at Larne havepreviously resigned and it is under-stood that their dissatisfaction hasspread to other areas, includingWhitehead.UDR HQ staff are not available forcomment.

Saturday 8th April 1972Bomb victims identifiedThe three young men who werekilled in an explosion in a lock-upgarage were almost certainly han-dling the bomb when it went off.The three were Charles McCrystal(18), of Mount Street, Belfast;Samuel Hughes (17) and John JoeMcErlane (17), both of BawnmorePark, Belfast. All three lived nearBawnmore Grove, off Shore Road,where the explosion took place.The RUC believe that CharlesMcCrystal was inside the car andthe other men were either setting thebomb or placing it inside the carwhen it exploded. A loaded .38 re-volver was found at the scene. It isestimated that the bomb contained30lb of gelignite.


RIGHT - Anti internment protest at theHenry Taggart army base

Saturday 8th April 1972Official IRA denies bombingAll responsibility for Fridays lunch-time blasts in Armagh has been de-nied by the local command of theOfficial IRA. Many shops had theirfronts blow out when the 100lbbomb exploded. In their statementthe command said “this type ofbombing campaign can only serveto drive the two communities inArmagh apart.”

Saturday 8th April 1972Soldiers accused of assaultTwo soldiers have appeared in aBelfast Court charged with assault-ing a man and causing him griev-ous bodily harm. The soldiers, bothof D Company, 1st Glosters as-saulted the man at Mulhouse Street.They were remanded on bail.

Saturday 8th April 1972RTE bans escape songRTE has banned from its pro-grammes the playing of a new bal-lad telling the story of Dutch”Doherty’s escape from CrumlinRoad jail. A record, “Over theWall,” produced by an ex-interneeBilly McBurney, and recorded bythe Belfast Based Wolf Hounds,was dropped from the RTE top tenprogramme by the producer as “of-

fensive and unacceptable.” Theproceeds of the record are going tothe County Tyrone Co-ordinatedRelief Committee. The flip side ofthe record, “The MagnificentSeven”, deals with the escape ofseven men from the Maidstoneprison ship.

Saturday 8th April 1972Linfield social club bombedA bomb has exploded at the socialclub a Linfield football ground. Thebomb, which was placed inside avan, exploded outside WindsorPark. Two people were treated forshock and it shattered windows inthe surrounding area.

Saturday 8th April 1972Belfast animals are ‘nervouswrecks’Domestic pets in Belfast are becom-ing nervous wrecks because of the

continual bombings and shootingsin the city. Dog and cats that livethrough blasts sometimes can turnvicious and unmanageable says thesecretary of the USPCA. “A hu-man being can understand thesetroubles, but you can’t explain anexplosion to an animal,” said thespokeswoman.

Monday 10th April 1972Ballymurphy woman attackedA pregnant Ballymurphy womanhas been beaten up and had feath-ers and paint poured over her hasclaimed that she has been given 48hours to get out of the estate TheProvisional IRA has accepted re-sponsibility for the attack. Themother of three, Mrs PhilomenaMcGucken, claimed that her attack-ers accused her of taking drugs butshe said that the only drugs she wastaking was for her nerves. He hus-band, she said, was arrested fiveweeks ago and was in prison.

Monday 10th April 1972Troops find arms cacheAn arms cache and bomb makingequipment were found early today


LEFT - Car bomb attack in CastlereaghStreet

by troops in two separate swoopsin Belfast. In an outhouse in theFalls Road area men of the Kingsown Scottish Borders found three.303 rifles, one .22 rifle and 907rounds of assorted ammunition.

In the second search at an empty flatat Norglen Parade the flowingbomb making materials were dis-covered: Acid, an electrical detona-tor, chemicals and other explosivedevices.In Derry, at Mullabuoy, childrenfound a shotgun, two .22 rifles anda cartridge belt with 25 rounds ofammunition in a derelict house.

Monday 10th April 1972Widow’s pensions grantedGovernment pensions have beengranted to 33 soldiers widows sincethe outbreak of the troubles.

Monday 10th April 1972Injured woman’s condition im-provesThe Derry woman who was caughtin an exchange of gunfire between

the IRA and soldiers is said to beimproving. The woman fromKildrum Gardens in the Cregganwas hit in the stomach in theBrandywell area of Derry.

Monday 10th April 1972Shots fired at patrolAn Army patrol has come under fireon the outskirts of Derry. Therewere no casualties and fire was notreturned. Later troops fired oneshot from the city walls at a gun-man in the Bogside. He wasn’t hit.

Monday 10th April 1972Girl charged with attempted murderA teenage girl has appeared in courton a charge of attempted murder ata bookie’s shop on Saturday. The17-year-old girl from Fort Streetwas also refused bail.

Monday 10th April 1972Youth shot in StrabaneAn 18-year-old youth has been shotin Strabane while out walking withhis girlfriend. As the couple walkedalong Townsend Street they wereapproached by four gunmen andmade the girl stand against the wall.They then shot the man in the rightleg.

Monday 10th April 1972Belfast man shot a his homeA 51-year-old Belfast man has un-dergone emergency surgery afterbeing shot at his home in OrientGardens. The man, a catholic, wasshot in the stomach. He was at hisfront door with his wife when thegunmen struck.


RIGHT - Rioters attack the army in theBogside

Monday 10th April 1972Co-op attackedA bomb has exploded at a Co-opshop at the juncation of SpringfieldRoad and Ainsworth Avenue. Onewoman was treated for shock.

Monday 10th April 1972Shots fired in Belfast25 shots have been fired into TatesAvenue from Rodney Parade area.No injuries were reported.

Monday 10th April 1972Mine explodes in South ArmaghSoldiers have escaped injury whena mine exploded under their LandRover. A man was seen runningaway and a shot was fired at himbut no hit was claimed.

Monday 10th April 1972Shots fired in LurganFive to ten rounds have been firedat the 3rd Brigade headquarters butno one was hurt in the attack.

Monday 10th April 1972UDR man attackedA UDR man has been fired on bygunmen on the Coalisland-Pomeroy road as he was going onduty. The part-time soldier wasunhurt but his car was riddled bygunfire.

Monday 10th April 1972Soldiers attacked in DerryShooting attacks on troops havecontinued sporadically in Derry.No one was injured. Troops havealso opened fire on two gunmen in

Derry but no hits have beenclaimed.

Monday 10th April 1972Helicopters move interneesMore than 100 detainees have beenlifted by helicopter from the prisonship Maidstone and the ship will nolonger be used as a detention cen-tre. The move has followed apledge by the Secretary of State, Mr.William Whitelaw, that the shipwould be closed. Mr. Whitelawsaid he did think it was suitable forthe purpose. The men were alltaken to Long Kesh internmentcamp.

Monday 10th April 1972Bogside votes for new leadersHouseholders in the Bogside areaof Derry have been polling to electa community association. The or-ganisers, a group of local school-teachers working in conjunctionwith tenant associations, have madeit clear that their election is in noway connected with the electionplans announced by the ProvisionalIRA for a community governmentin the Bogside and Creggan. Oneof the organisers, Rev Denis

Bradley of the Long Tower YouthAssociation said that the associationwhich they planned would operateonly in the Bogside and would notinclude the Creggan Estate. “It willhave absolutely no political aims,”he said.

Monday 10th April 1972IRA pledgeThe Provisional IRA in Derry areto continue the fight against the se-curity forces. Leaders of the move-ment announced this when theyaddressed a public meeting in theBogside and they gave a press con-ference in the Creggan Estate at theweekend. They also announcedplans to form a community govern-ment for what they called the “FreeDerry” area and said that the elec-tions would take place in four to sixweeks.

Monday 10th April 1972UVF threatThe RUC have denied an allegationby the Provisonals of plans by theUVF to assassinate people in thebarricaded areas. The claim wasmade by the Provisional leaders ata press conference at which they


produced photographs of about 200people and a UVF armband whichthey said was discovered by one oftheir units in a UVF dump in theWaterside area of Derry.David O’Connell, a leading IRAtactician, who figured in the Am-sterdam arms smuggling bid, spokeat the press conference and said thatmost of the pictures were of ordi-nary people in the barricaded areaswho had no connection with theRepublican movement. He said thatone of the reasons that they haddecided to strengthen the barricadeswas that they believed that the UVFplanned sorties into the Bogside andCreggan. Mr. O’Connell and Mr.Martin McGuinness, described asthe commanding officer of theDerry command of the ProvisionalIRA both addressed the Bogsidemeeting. It has been reported thatapproaches by the Provisional IRAto the Democratic Unionist Party inDerry have been rejected.

Monday 10th April 1972Internment ralliesTwo big protest rallies about intern-ment were held in Belfast – onedemanding that it be ended and theother condemning the release ofinternees. In Belfast a crowd ofabout 50 protesters picketedCrumlin Road Prison for about andhour. They carried placards protest-ing against the release of internees.Later about 1,000 people marchedto the jail from Tennant Street tomake a similar protest. AtBeechmount Avenue on the FallsRoad, two of the recently releasedinternees where among the speak-ers at an anti-internment rally.

Monday 10th April 1972UDR carry or searchMore than 150 members of theUDR from two battalions havetaken part in an intensive search andcheck operation along the border.This is the first inter battalion op-

eration exercise to be staged by theregiment and represents an impor-tant development in UDR opera-tions. A varied programme wascompleted including cross countryfoot patrols at night aroundCastlederg and a co-ordinated satu-ration of the border area in SouthTyrone. Over the 24 hour periodthe UDR men had no more than twohours rest. Arial support was pro-vided by Army helicopters.

Monday 10th April 1972Bernadette Devlin in TreasoncaseA move to obtain a summons alleg-ing high treason against MissBernadette Devlin, Independent MPfor Mid-Ulster, will be made in aLeeds court on Wednesday. Theapplication is being made by Mr.Thomas Doyle (30), secretary of theYorkshire Association for BritishUlster. Mr. Doyle will use a 620-year-old treason statute. He is also

Belfast’s Crumlin Road Prison


alleging sedition and riotous assem-bly against Miss Devlin. Mr. Doylesays that he is making his applica-tion as an individual says the asso-ciation will back him if he succeeds.

Monday 10th April 1972Book raises money for bomb vic-timsMoney sent to Mr. Brian Faulknerfor the free-of-charge book “TheTerror and the Tears” and the pro-ceeds of a charity walk and discorun by the pupils of St. Colmcille’sSecondary School, Crossgar havebeen sent to the bomb victim’s re-lief fund. The total amount donatedto the fund now stands at £10,050.

Monday 10th April 1972Paisley man talks about BogsideA Free Presbyterian minister hassaid that he would love to address ameeting in the Bogside but he was

afraid he might be lynched. Thepeople of the Bogside had souls aswell as anyone else said the RevJames McClelland, vice presidentof the Democratic Unionist Party inDerry.

Tuesday 11th April 1972No-car zone for BelfastA large part of the centre of Belfastis to be barred to cars within thenext few days in an effort to beatthe car bombers. The streets willbe closed to traffic from eleven inthe morning until six at night. Theclamp down applies from Mondayto Saturday and only Army andRUC vehicles will be allowed toenter the area. It is thought that AnnStreet, west of Church Lane, Cas-tle Lane, Callender Street, FountainStreet, the east of College Street andFountain Lane will all be made “pe-destrians only.”

If the plan is a success it is thoughtthat it might be expanded to includemore streets in the centre of Bel-fast. Portable metal barriers will beused to seal the streets and troopsand police will be on duty to ex-plain the plan.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Derry IRA in clean-up campaignThe Derry command of the Provi-sional IRA have begun a clean-upoperation in the Creggan area of thecity. A Provisional spokesman saidthat all unnecessary barricades inthe estate would be cleared awayand waste ground levelled andturned into recreational areas. Thespokesman also said that the barri-cades at the perimeter of the areawould be strengthened against anypossible attempt by the Army toenter the estate in Force. It is be-lieved that the Provisionals intendto replace burned out vehicles withsome form of reinforced concreteblocks.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Shots fired in DerryThree bullets have hit the home ofthe Nationalist Party president Mr.Eddie McAteer at Beechwood Av-enue, Derry, during a brief gun bat-tle between the IRA and the Army.The Army have said that a manarmed with a Thompson sub-ma-chine gun opened up on a patrol atthe junction of Eastway and LoneMoor Road. The gunman, whofired eight rounds at the patrol, wasoperating from the Westland Streetarea. No one was injured in the at-tack.


LEFT - Bomb attack on the EuropaHotel.FACING PAGE - IRA bomb attack on ablock of shops in East Belfast

Tuesday 11th April 1972Sinn Fein contacts KennedySinn Fein are said to be keepingSenator Edward Kennedy informedabout “torture and injustice” in theNorth said party president TomasMacGiolla in Dublin. MacGiollaalso said that Sinn Fein had alsobeen supplying material to Dr. KurtWaldheim, the new United NationsSecretary General, who is on a twoday visit to Britain.

Tuesday 11th April 1972IRA campaign will continueThe Provisional IRA leaders inDerry have decided to continuewith their campaign despite a pleafor peace by the Derry CitizensCentral Council. Council repre-sentatives mostly from the Bogsidemet with Mr. David O’Connell andMr. Martin McGuinness. TheProvisionals maintained the neces-sity for continued political and mili-tary activity and a proposal for com-munity elections was put forwardin principal by the Provisionals rep-resentatives.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Troops fire at gunmanTroops have fired at a gunman whowas seen at a window in WestlandTerrace in the Bogside. No one washit. Later a shot was fired at theBrandywell Army post from the vi-cinity of the cemetery. There wereno casualties and fire was not re-turned.

Tuesday 11th April 1972IRA men escape from courtThree men from the North escapedduring scuffles between Gardai andcivilians at Monaghan when policetried to re-arrest them after a courthearing. Charges of being membersof the IRA and illegally possessing.303 ammunition had been broughtagainst Kevin Mallon and PatrickQuinn of Coalisland and JosephDonaghy of no fixed abode butthese were dismissed by the judge.As Gardai made moves to re-arrestthe three men surged towards them,scuffles broken out and the menwere driven away from the scene.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Widgery reportCabinet Ministers will be discuss-ing the report by Lord Widgery, onthe “Bloody Sunday” shootings atDerry over the next few days. Thereport was handed to the Home Sec-retary Mr. Reginald Maudling onMonday but there are to be top leveltalks about the findings before theyare published.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Bogside pollThe organisers of the Bogside elec-tion for a community associationsay that polling was “exceptionallyhigh” – in some areas as high as95%.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Damages awarded to G.A.A.At Dungannon County Courtagreed damages of £25,000 wereawarded to the trustees of O’NeillG.A.A. Park, Dungannon, for dam-age caused to the pavilion on the17th March 1971.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Soldiers killed in DerryTwo soldiers have been killed inDerry as they tried to move youngrioters to safety away from a 40lbbomb. The soldiers, both membersof the 5th Light Regiment RoyalArtillery, left a safe position to tryto get young stone throwers awayfrom the bomb which had beenplanted inside a bowling club pa-


vilion. They were Lance Bombar-dier Eric Blackburn and Bombar-dier Brian Thomasson. Theirdeaths, for which the Official IRAclaimed responsibility, brings thenumber of people killed in the northsince August 1969 to 300.

The soldiers had gone to investigatea report that a bomb had beenplaced inside the pavilion atRosemount on the fringe of theCreggan estate. The bomb was lo-cated at 7.30 pm and the soldier,members of a foot patrol, proceededto disperse youths who were throw-ing stones. It was during this timethat the bomb exploded killing thetwo men. The Official IRA has re-leased a statement about the soldiersdeaths in which they stated that the

bombing was “in pursuance of ourpolicy of defence and retaliation forthe ‘Bloody Sunday’ killings.”

Tuesday 11th April 1972Shots fired in ArdoyneThe Army have stated that they mayhave hit a gunman in the Ardoynearea of Belfast last night. Thespokesman said that the shootingoccurred at around 7.30 pm when ashot was fired, possibly at a groupof Protestants at Palmer Street-Crumlin Road from ChathamStreet. Soldiers who were in thearea returned fire and believe theymay have hit the gunman. Aroundthe same time as this incident an-other gunman fired four shots fromHooker Street at the patrol.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Henry Taggart base attackedOn two occasions during the night,a total of six shots were fired bysnipers at the Henry Taggart Me-morial Hall from the area ofDivismore Way. Soldiers at thebase returned fire twice but no hitswere claimed.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Youth shot in AndersonstownA youth is thought to have been in-jured during a shooting incident inthe Andersonstown area. The inci-dent happened between 4 and 5 pmwhen three gunmen in a stolen caropened fire on another car at ShawsRoad-Andersonstown Road. Fivebullets struck the car but none ofthe occupants were injured. A 19-


LEFT - Car bomb attack at King Street

year-old youth was later admittedto hospital. He said that he had beenshot from a passing car.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Man fined over IRA documentBarry Doyle, 21-year-old joint pro-prietor of the United Irishmannewspaper was fined £20 at Limer-ick City Court for possessing anincriminating document containinga threat to assassinate leadingNorthern Ireland and Eire politi-cians. The document found inDoyle’s possession appears to aidand abet an organisation by purport-ing to give certain advice on whattactics the IRA should adopt.

Tuesday 11th April 1972Communists call for a truceThe National Executive Committeeof the Communist Party of Ireland

has called for a truce by both theIRA and the Army. A statementsays “Aggressive military actionsby either source only exacerbate thesuffering of the ordinary people,Catholic and Protestant and obscurethe need for political solutions to thepresent crisis. Bombings of civil-ian premises result in deaths andmaiming of innocent people,heighten sectarian divisions amongthe working class and thereby play-ing into the hands of right wingunionism.”

Wednesday 12th April 1972Army detonates bombAn Army expert has detonated abooby trap bomb in Derry morethan seven hours after 100 peoplewere evacuated from their homes.The bomb exploded after the Army

placed a small charge in order toopen the shop door but no one wasinjured. The shop, at the corner ofHenrietta Street and Bishop Streetwas extensively damaged.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Treason bid failsAn application for a summons al-leging high treason against MissBernadette Devlin, WestminsterM.P. for Mid-Ulster, has failed. Theapplication was based on the 620-year-old Statute of Treason but themagistrate ruled that it was outsidethe jurisdiction of the court “to dealwith offences alleged to have oc-curred in Ulster.” The person bring-ing the case, Mr. Thomas Doyle,now says he will try to obtain a sum-mons in the North.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Shot man arms chargeA 19-year-old window cleaner hasbeen remanded in custody on anarms charge. The man from White-hall Row is accused of possessinga rifle and 21 rounds of ammuni-tion. He had been caught by troopsand was shot in the leg as he triedto escape.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Clean out ghettos says FaulknerIn his first meeting with Mr.Whitelaw since Direct Rule wasimposed, Mr. Faulkner, the leaderof the Unionist Party, has told theSecretary of State of his concernthat the Army may now be allow-ing the IRA to operate in the ghet-tos rather than “seeking them out.”


TOP RIGHT - Members of the Provi-sional IRA reinforcing the barricadesin the Bogside.BOTTOM RIGHT - Troops construct abarricade on the Craigavon Bridge

Wednesday 12th April 1972Ballmurphy woman told leaveareaThe home of the pregnantBallymurphy woman, MrsPhilomena McGucken’s parents hasbeen attacked and Mrs McGuckenordered to leave the area. MrsMcGucken moved into her moth-er’s home after she was attackedand covered with paint and feath-ers but local people have said thatthey want her out of the area alto-gether and not just in a differenthouse.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Booby trap in carThere has been an attempt to killan RUC Reserve near Portglenoneby booby trapping his car. Thebomb, containing 20 lb of explo-sives, was wired to the drive shaftof the car, but it was spotted beforeit could explode. An Army explo-sives expert was sent to the sceneto disarm the bomb but it explodedas he was working with it. No onewas injured by the blast.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Tyrone factory bombedA water pipe burst as a bomb ex-ploded in a County Tyrone factory,starting a fire and then extinguisheda blaze. The bomb, planted in a dogfood factory in Benburb shortly af-ter 11.00 pm only caused slightdamage to the building.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Shots fired in Brompton ParkAt least 13 shots were fired from aspeeding car in the Brompton Parkarea of Ardoyne. The securityforces were not involved in the in-cident and it is not known what theshots were aimed at. No one wasinjured.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Belfast bombsIn Belfast a grocery shop in Lon-don Street has been slightly dam-aged by a nail bomb and 30lbs ofexplosives have been found in a bagin the flour mill of James Neill in

College Place North. The bombwas defused by an Army explosivesexpert.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Bomb thrown into Derry campA three pound bomb has beenthrown into the Army camp atDuncreggan, in Derry. It causedsevere damage to a nissen hut andbroke windows in the surroundingarea.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Armed raid in DungivenThree men armed with machineguns and a revolver raided a bingo


hall in Gulladuff outside Dungiven.It is believed they got away withabout £60.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Garage robbed in CookstownTwo armed men have held up theproprietor of a Cookstown garageand got away with about £1,000 incash as well as cheques. Earlier inthe day masked and armed menrobbed the Munster and LeinsterBank in the village of Pomeroywhich is nine miles away. They gotaway with an undisclosed sum ofmoney.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Vanguard threatThe Vanguard movement hasthreatened “pretty tough” actionover the decision to reprimand civilservants who joined the two daystrike against direct rule. It is un-derstood that about 100 civil serv-ants, mainly in the Ministry ofHealth and Social Services receivedletters of reprimand and have beentold that they will not be paid forthe period of unauthorised leave.The Vanguard steering committeehas been discussing the develop-ment and an official said “Our atti-tude to this scandalous move willbe pretty tough. We will probablytake some action through the Loy-alist Association of Workers. Wewill not sit back and take this.”

Wednesday 12th April 1972Loyalist women strikeA group calling itself the LoyalistWomen’s Action Committee hascalled on Protestant women work-ers to strike to strike on Thursday

afternoon as a protest against directrule and decisions taken by the Sec-retary of State, Mr. Whitelaw. Thecommittee says it plans to hold arally outside Belfast Prison to pro-test against the release of internees.It is not clear if the strike call willreceive much support, but if itcomes off it will not have the back-ing of the official trade union move-ment.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Derry IRA issue press cardsThe Derry Command of the Provi-sional IRA have said that they areto place strict sanctions on accessto the Free Derry area to certainpressmen. In a statement they saidthat they had for some time givenpressmen a free hand in the barri-caded area, but they had becomeincreasingly disturbed by certainpress reports “being twisted andwarped to suit the policy of the par-ticular papers concerned.” Al-though reluctant to place any re-strictions, the IRA said I felt it hadno other option. However, theypointed out that the commandwould be issuing Press Cards au-thorising the holders to operate inthe Bogside and Creggan areas intheir professional capacity. Cardswould be issued to individual Press-men and not t newspapers. The IRAsaid they had no intention of inhib-iting the freedom of the press and

had no objection to reports thatwere objective, even if they werenot necessarily favourable to theProvisional IRA viewpoint.

Wednesday 12th April 1972Allegations made against ArmyArmy headquarters has issued astatement saying that they were notdenying that soldiers had painted aUnion Jack on the gable wall of a

house in the lower Falls area ofBelfast. But the spokesman addedthat it was difficult to check for thesoldiers concerned, men of theGlosters, had left the North aftercompleting their tour of duty.Among the allegations, it wasclaimed that the Glosters had sungThe Sash, made rude signs, playedbugles, fired shots into the air andpainted the Union Jack on a Gablewall in Raglan Street. The spokes-man said that there was obviouslysome little party celebrations” and“high spirits” from the Glosters be-fore leaving but he did not think thatwhat happened was directed in avicious way at any part of the com-munity.

Wednesday 12th April 1972UDR man sues soldiers for as-saultA full time member of the UDR hasalleged at Belfast Recorder’s Courtthat he was kicked and beaten by

The Derry Command of the Provisional IRA have said that they areto place strict sanctions on access to the Free Derry area to certainpressmen. In a statement they said that they had for some time givenpressmen a free hand in the barricaded area, but they had becomeincreasingly disturbed by certain press reports “being twisted andwarped to suit the policy of the particular papers concerned.”


soldiers at a road block. ThomasIrwin, aged 21, is suing the Minis-try of Home Affairs for £5,000criminal injury damages.

Thursday 13th April 1972Ex-B Special attackedAn attempt has been made on thelife of an ex-member of the UlsterSpecial Constabulary nearCrossmaglen. The man, who hasnot been revealed, was travelling towork in a quarry when he passed acar with three men on board, parkedat the side of the road. The car hada southern registration. A short timelater the car overtook him and as itdid a number of shots were fired,three of which struck the vehicle.The gunmen then drove off in thedirection of Dundalk.

Thursday 13th April 1972Shots fired in DerryFour shots have been fired at theBrandywell Army post in Derryfrom the Creggan area. No one wasinjured and fire was not returned.

Thursday 13th April 1972Car showroom attacked for fifthtimeA massive IRA car bomb has com-pletely demolished the showroomsof Isaac Agnew at the corner ofDurham Street and GrosvenorRoad. This is the fifth time that thebombers have struck at thesepremises. An employee of the firmhas said that a young man drove aVolkswagen into the showroom, gotout and shouted that there was abomb in the car and ran out. Hejumped into a waiting car which

drove off up the Grosvenor Road.Twenty minutes later the bomb ex-ploded demolishing the three-sto-rey building and completely wreck-ing about 30 new cars. No one wasinjured in the attack but windowsin a large radius were shattered forthe sixth or seventh time.

Thursday 13th April 1972Security man shot in NewryA security man has been shot andat least a dozen people, includingthree soldiers and two RUC men,have been injured during a wide-spread bombing attack. The secu-rity man was shot in the leg by oneof four men as they planted a bombat a rural council office in Newry.He is not thought to be seriouslyinjured.

Thursday 13th April 1972Pregnant woman had gunTwo women were carried uncon-scious from a blazing building af-ter an arson attempt went wrong. Itappears that armed raiders, one ofwho was a pregnant woman, en-tered the premises of Queens Uni-versity Air Squadron Club andsprinkled petrol on the floor. It isthought that the petrol may havebeen accidentally ignited by a gasfire on one of the floors. In the re-sulting panic a revolver was aban-doned and found in a downstairsporch.

Thursday 13th April 1972Bomb at Belfast Telegraph officesA bomb has been planted at theNewry offices of the Belfast Tel-egraph and Army experts were

called to the scene. The bomb wasdragged from the building into thestreet where it burst open. The sol-dier then detonated the devicewhich contained 10lb of geligniteand a gallon of petrol.

Thursday 13th April 1972Bomb at SmithfieldFive buses have been wrecked andmore than 20 severely damagedwhen a bomb exploded atSmithfield Bus Depot. The bomb,estimated to be more than 50lb wasplaced in the depot by two armedmen. Employees were told to getout and fifteen minutes the bombexploded. The RUC have said thatthe bomb was transported to thedepot by a car which had been sto-len in the Falls Road. Severalhouses in the Samuel Street areahave been damaged by the blast.

Thursday 13th April 19729 internees releasedAnother nine internees have beenreleased from Long Kesh andMagilligan. This follows the un-conditional releases of 47 interneesand 26 detainees in Friday. Afterthe latest releases a further 671 in-ternees and 159 detainees are stillbeing held under the Special Pow-ers Act.

Thursday 13th April 1972Woman dies after BallymoneybombA 64-year-old Ballymoney womanhas died when a bomb which wasparked outside her flat exploded.He woman, Mrs ElizabethMcAuley, lived above a shop inMain Street and her body was found


in the building after the bomb, esti-mated to be between 50 and 100lbsexploded. A telephone warning hadbeen received and the vehicle car-rying the bomb identified, however,the RUC had difficulty trying torouse Mr and Mrs McAuley. Theydid manage to get Mr McAuley outthrough the rear of the premises butbefore Mrs McAuley could bebrought to safety the bomb ex-ploded. The blast, the first inBallymoney, was heard ten milesaway.

Thursday 13th April 1972Telephone exchange attacked inFermanagh

In Fermanagh, more than 170 sub-scribers were left without tel-ephones when a bomb explodedduring the night at the automatictelephone exchange inNewtownbutler. It is estimated thatthe bomb contained 10lb of gelig-nite.

Thursday 13th April 1972Bombs explode at BroadwayTwo bombs have exploded in theBroadway area of Belfast but anArmy spokesman has said that therewere no security force personnel inthe area at the time and there wasno apparent target. No damage wasreported.

Thursday 13th April 1972Shots fired in BelfastTroops have come under attack inthe Lower Falls area of Belfastwhen six shots were fired from thedirection of St Comgall’s School.Troops returned fire but no hitswere claimed.Shots have also been fired at theArmy posts at Springfield Road andat Falls Road bus depot. No casu-alties were reportedTwo high velocity shots were alsofired shortly before 7.00pm at theHenry Taggart Army post,Ballymurphy. A short time latershots were also fired at a two manRUC patrol in Roden Street from


FACING PAGE - Bomb attack on theAnnadale EmbankmentRIGHT - Bomb attack in Bishop Street,Derry

the direction of Grosvenor Park andBeatrice Street. The bullets strucka wall close to them.Nine shots have also been fired atthe New Barnsley RUC Barracksfrom the direction of DivismorePark. The troops on duty returnedfire but no one was injured.

Thursday 13th April 1972Soldiers attacked in DerryThere have been a number of shoot-ings in Derry overnight. In the firstof the incidents shots were fired ata gunman who appeared at the junc-tion of Lone Moor Road andEastway and it is reported that hewas hit. Twice during the night sol-diers came under fire at the Derry-Donegal border. Eight gunmenoperating in the area of MillbrookBridge fired a total of 30 automaticand single shots at a two vehiclepatrol. The soldiers returned fireand believe they may have ht oneof the gunmen.

Thursday 13th April 1972

Customs post bombedA temporary customs post at Killeahas been badly damaged by fire.The previous post was destroyed byan explosion some time ago.

Thursday 13th April 1972Soldiers attacked in OmaghTwenty soldiers in civvies havebeen attacked by youths in BridgeStreet, Omagh. The soldiers wereon their way back to LisanellyCamp when the incident occurred,however members of the RUC, whowere on foot patrol, managed to dis-perse the crowd. Later in theevening about 200 youths damagedproperty and smashed several win-dows in the town.

Thursday 13th April 1972Bogside election meetingA meeting backed by the Provi-sional IRA is to be held in theBogside to discuss the “New Derry”general election to set up a commu-nity government within the FreeDerry area. The Provisionals an-nounced their election plans at theweekend saying that the electionwould take place within six weeks.The meeting which is being heldtonight in Our Lady of LourdesHall, is to form a steering commit-tee to establish the machinery of theelection.

Thursday 13th April 1972Bomb in CastledergDozens of shops have been dam-aged by a bomb which exploded inMain Street Castlederg. Several ofthe shops had their fronts blown inand two RUC men, a sergeant andconstable, were slightly injured.

Thursday 13th April 1972Electricity pylons bombedA bomb has exploded atDrumuckaval, near Crossmaglendestroying two electricity pylons.


LEFT - Bomb attack in Ballymoney’sMain Street. A 64 year old woman,Elizabeth McAuley, died in a blazewhich followed.

No one was injured in the attack butthe Army suspecting a booby trapin a hi-jacked lorry which is parkednearby have sealed off the road.Three soldiers were later injured ata house at Drumuckaval while theattacks were being investigated,however their injuries are minor.

Thursday 13th April 1972Mini van explodes in DerryA bomb which was left in a hi-jacked mini van has exploded inDerry. The lunchtime explosion

occurred in the enclosed yard ofMcConnell and Co. in Foyle Street.No one was injured in the attack andthe enclosed yard in which thebomb was planted limited theamount of damage caused. A pallof black smoke, however, could beseen belching several hundred feetup into the sky.

Thursday 13th April 1972Loyalist women tell Whitelaw“Go home”About 500 women, some pushing

prams, blocked the Crumlin Roadoutside Belfast Prison in protestagainst the release to internees.They sang songs as they moved ina circle on the roadway and traffichad to be diverted from the area.Placards read “Go Home WillieWhitewash” and “Heath, Ulster’sJudas.” The demonstration was or-ganised by Shankill members of theUlster Loyalist Women’s Associa-tion, who called on women to stopwork for the demonstration.

Friday 14th April 1972Whitelaw denies RUC shake-upSecretary of State, Mr. WilliamWhitelaw sent a message to allRUC men today that the rumoursof a major reorganisation of theforce are totally without foundation.

Friday 14th April 1972Hold up at MillSix armed men have got away withnearly £2,500 after they held upstaff at the Falls Flax SpinningCompany in Conway Street. Themen used a hi-jacked GPO van tomake their getaway and the driverwas held for four hours before be-ing released.

Friday 14th April 1972Shots fired in BelfastSoldiers and RUC personnel havecome under fire in Belfast but therewere no casualties. Two shots werefired at a joint RUC-Army patrol atShaw’s Road, but neither hit the


RIGHT - Bomb attack on Connell’s TeaMerchants, Derry.

vehicle. Ten shots believed to befrom a M1 carbine were fired in theTurf Lodge area but the RUC havesaid that the security forces were notinvolved. Six shots were also firedat an Army post at Andersonstownbus depot, but fire was not returned

Friday 14th April 1972IRA claim 30 operations in 24hoursThe Provisional IRA, in a statementissued by the Irish Republican Pub-licity Bureau in Dublin claimed tohave carried out 30 operations in thepast 24 hours. The Provisionalsadded that extensive damage wascaused to “administrative, commer-cial and industrial targets.” Theyalso claimed responsibility for kill-ing one soldier and wounding 16others and four RUC men duringthe last ten days.The launderette at Crumlin Roadhas been wrecked by a 50lb bomb.It was carried into the premises ataround 9.00 am.A 30lb bomb has been defused atthe local Electricity Board at MainStreet, Newcastle. It had beenplanted at around midnight but wasdefused about ten hours later.A parcel of gelignite has been madesafe in Andersonstown after it wasfound in Ramoan Gardens. Fiveshots were fired at the Army expertwho was called in to examine thedevice but fire was not returned andno injuries were caused.A bomb has wrecked a Ministry ofAgriculture digger at a dump atNewry Road, Newtownhamlton.

At the new £12 million hydro-elec-tric scheme at Camlough Lake,Army bomb experts spent 12 hoursdefusing a bomb. The bomb wasplanted by four armed men, whoheld up a security guard. The manwas later released unharmed fourmiles away.A pipe bomb has exploded on thepremises of a heating engineer onthe Beersbridge Road. A seconddevice was defused.A gunman entered the Farmers Rest

public house at Castlereagh Streetand ordered all the Protestants toleave the bar. About 75% of thecustomers left.An incendiary device has explodedat the White Cross Hotel,Newtownhamilton. Only slightdamage was caused.At 10.45pm a bomb exploded at adeep litter hen house at Alnaveigh,Bessbrook.In Armagh a tractor was destroyedin a blast at the playing fields at


Moy Road. Charges that had beenplaced on two other vehicles failedto explode.The offices of Fane Valley livestockmarket at Armagh Street,Newtownhamilton, was badly dam-aged by the explosion. Severalbuses parked nearby were wrecked.The Beechlawn hotel in Dunmurrywas damaged when a bomb ex-ploded in a car outside the build-ing. The hotel had been evacuatedand no one was hurt.A bomb has exploded atMassereene Golf Club, LoughRoad, Antrim. The blast wreckedthe lounge and the remainder of thebuilding was badly damaged.Fire has destroyed the premises ofFeedwell Products in Bangor. TheRUC were told that a bomb hadbeen planted but nothing was found.A new telephone exchange atMayobridge was destroyed by abomb at 9.40. The Exchange hadnot yet come into use.A new telephone exchange atNewry Road, Kilkeel was alsobadly damaged by an explosion.A mountain rescue hut atTollymore, outside Newcastle waswrecked by a bomb. Some 23 peo-ple were told to leave the hut be-fore the explosion occurred.Castlewellan Masonic Hall wasdamaged by an explosion at around2.15 in the morning. A second blastwas heard in the same area but sofar it has not been possible to traceit.In Strabane County Tyrone an AirForce Cadet hut and a small elec-tricity transformer were destroyedby bombs.A bomb in a milk churn damaged

Kinawley post office in the earlyhours of the morning. Some of theexplosives did not go off and weremade safe by an Army bomb expert.Three men drove a vehicle into agarage at Coleraine Road, Garvaghcontaining a bomb. The bomb ex-ploded causing extensive damage.A bomb in a suitcase was discov-ered by a UDR patrol atMoneymore, County Derry. It ex-ploded shortly after 11.00pm dam-aging a Co-operative store and in-juring an RUC man.At around 1.00am a UDR mobilepatrol was ambushed by the IRA atDungiven. A burst of automaticgunfire was directed at the patrol,hitting one of the vehicles fourtimes.Raiders managed to slip unnoticedinto an oil storage depot aPennyburn, Derry, in the early hoursof the morning and planted a 20-30lb bomb. The bomb exploded butonly caused slight damage to an oilsupply line.At 4.37am in Derry, three bursts offive or six shots were fired from thearea of Charlotte Place-BarrackStreet towards an Army patrol inAbercorn Road. There were nocasualties and no fire was returned.At around 5.00am a soldier identi-fied a soldier at Nailor’s Row, Derryand fired at him, but no hit wasclaimed.In William Street a bomb explodedat the rear of a public house. Noone was injured.

Friday 14th April 1972SDLP branch formed in ArdoyneA branch of the SDLP has beenformed in Ardoyne after an inten-

sive six week canvassing campaign.A packed meeting was held in thearea and a committee was elected.A member of the SDLP executivewas in attendance to outline theparty’s organisation and policies.

Friday 14th April 1972Vanguard’s wreath dilemmaThe Vanguard movement in Britainis planning a march in London onApril 29th, is finding it difficult tofind somewhere to lay a wreath inMemory of British soldiers whohave died in the North. They hadhoped to lay it at the cenotaph inWhitehall but were told that themonument was specifically for thedead of two World Wars. It is ex-pected that several thousand peo-ple will support the Vanguard dem-onstration. The anti-internmentmovement is planning a march onthe same day. Police are makingcareful plans to keep the two groupsapart.

Friday 14th April 1972Bomb scare in BangorFifty families were evacuated fromtheir homes in Bangor after a reportthat a bomb had been planted at apet food factory. The area wasevacuated but no bombs werefound.

Friday 14th April 1972Belfast traffic banThe traffic plan to beat the bomb-ers in Belfast city centre will go intooperation next Monday. An RUCspokesman said that the restrictionswill be “rigidly enforced.” It willoperate all week from 11.00am to6.00pm. During that time, the use


of all vehicles will be prohibited inthe following designated zones:

1. Ann Street from ArthurSquare to Church Lane.

2. Telfair Street.3. Cornmarket.4. Castle Lane from Don-

egal Place to CallenderStreet.

5. Castle Arcade.6. Fountain Lane.

The order is being made under theSpecial Powers Act. Anyone whocontravenes it is liable to a maxi-mum £50 fine or a maximum sen-tence of six months, or both.

Friday 14th April 1972Radio destroyedThe Official IRA in Belfast has is-sued a statement accusing theProvisionals of “adopting the roleof the British Army in the repres-sion of free speech and basic hu-man rights.” The Officials allegethat members of the ProvisionalAlliance burst into the house of apregnant woman in Andersonstownand damaged a radio being used bythe Officials to broadcast requestsfor internees in Long Kesh. Theysay that the man and girl who wereoperating the radio were threatenedwith being shot if they attemptedto interfere.

Saturday 15th April 1972Senior IRA man shot deadA man, believed to be high on theArmy’s wanted list, has been shotdead by troops in the Markets areaof Belfast. He was challenged ashe walked along Joy Street. Theman pushed the soldier to the

ground and ran away. Other sol-diers taking part in the routine pa-trol challenged him several times,but he failed to stop and was shottwice. His bleeding body lay on thepavement for some time while po-lice and troop reinforcementsrushed to the scene. The body wastaken away in an ambulance accom-panied by a plain clothes RUC man.First reports said he was a highranking officer in the IRA, and hadbeen on the wanted list for at leastthree years. It is understood theman – believed to be from the Mar-kets area – had disguised himselfby dying his hair.

Saturday 15th April 1972Gelignite seized in LarneFour Scotsmen are being ques-tioned by the RUC after the discov-ery of 50lbs of explosives in a caron board a cross-channel ferrywhich docked at Larne Harbour.The men all believed to have ad-dresses in Lanarkshire were de-tained after police made a routinesearch on the car deck of the Brit-ish Rail Ferry, Caledonian Princess.There is speculation that the “rou-tine check” at Larne could have fol-lowed a tip off from the ScottishPolice who have been carrying outextensive investigations following

gelignite finds on the railway nearStranraer.

Saturday 15th April 1972Brothers wounded in BelfastThe Army this afternoon gave de-tails of a shooting in the Whiterockarea of Belfast, after which twobrothers were admitted to hospital.The Army say a patrol of the KingsOwn Scottish Borderers were firedon by two men. Two shots werefired at the troops who returned fireas the men ran away. One man washit in the legs and the other droppeda 9mm pistol as he ran. Two menwere later admitted to hospital.

Saturday 15th April 1972Gunmen shot in DerryThe Army in Derry claim that theymay have hit four gunmen in spo-radic shooting incidents in the city.In the first of the incidents shortlyafter 1.00am security forcesclaimed a hit after firing at a gun-man in Warke’s Lane near theRosemount Post. About fours latera gunman was seen in a building inLone Moor Road. Troops fired atthe man but failed to hit him. Fortyminutes later soldiers again fired ata gunman seen in a derelict build-ing in Lone Moor Road. No hit wasclaimed. A gunman was seen to

The Official IRA in Belfast has issued a statement accusing theProvisionals of “adopting the role of the British Army in therepression of free speech and basic human rights.” The Officialsallege that members of the Provisional Alliance burst into the houseof a pregnant woman in Andersonstown and damaged a radio beingused by the Officials to broadcast requests for internees in Long Kesh.They say that the man and girl who were operating the radio werethreatened with being shot if they attempted to interfere.


RIGHT - The remains of Isaac Agnew’scar showroom after a bomb attack

fall five minutes after this whentroops fired on him at the junctionof Beechwood Crescent and De-mesne Avenue. Ten minutes lateranother hit was claimed on one oftwo gunmen operating in a derelictbuilding in Beechwood Avenue. At5.59am a gunman fired two shotsfrom the Lone Moor Road junctionwith Beechwood Street at theBligh’s Lane Army post. Therewere no casualties but the Armyreturned fire and the gunman wasseen to fall. In the last of the inci-dents at 6.28am, a gunman fired twoshots from the area of the city cem-etery at the Brandywell Army post.There were no casualties and firewas not returned.

Saturday 15th April 1972Filling station bombedA bomb has extensively damageda filling station on Belfast’s AntrimRoad but police and troops hadevacuated the area before the blastand their were no injuries. Thebomb was left outside the fillingstation at the Alexandra Park Av-enue junction. The bombers madetheir getaway in a stolen Ford. Thenearby Capital Cinema, normallycrowded with children at the Satur-day matinee, was hurriedly evacu-ated along with neighbouring shopsand houses. The RUC sealed offthe Antrim Road and diverted traf-fic into the side streets before theexplosion. The blast badly dam-aged a car showroom and dozensof windows in nearby buildings. Anumber of cars were also damaged.

Saturday 15th April 1972Boy finds pistolA nine year-old boy has found aloaded automatic pistol on wasteground in the Penynyburn area ofDerry. It was handed over to theRUC along with a Parka jacket anda pair of gloves found beside it.

Saturday 15th April 1972Troops find bomb deviceAn Army explosives expert has un-covered what is thought to be abomb device during a search of astreet. The device, in a box, did notcontain explosives. Troops after-wards carried out a search and while

this was going on a shot was firedat soldiers who had cordoned off thearea, but no one was injured and firewas not returned.

Saturday 15th April 1972IRA to investigate robberyBoth wings of the IRA in Derry’sCreggan Estate have denied respon-sibility for a £3,000 shirt factorywages snatch. A spokesman for theProvisional IRA said that, in ac-cordance with its policy, the raidwould be investigated. An OfficialIRA spokesman said that as far ashe knew none of their units hadbeen involved.


RIGHT - Children look at bullet markson the wall near the spot where IRAleader, Joe McCann, died in Joy Street

Saturday 15th April 1972Bomb experts to get rocketlaunchersArmy bomb disposal officers whogo out on the streets in Belfast infuture may well be accompanied bya special two-man rocket launcherteam from the 2nd Parachute Regi-ment. It has been decided to usethe launcher - normally fired toknock out tanks and armoured ve-hicles – to try and cut down thecasualties among bomb disposalofficers. The 84 mm weapon nor-mally fires a live armour piercingrocket – an updated version of thebazooka – but in Belfast it will firea dummy round. Staff officers re-alised the dummy rocket normallyused for training purposes could setoff a bomb fitted with an anti-han-dling device, without the bomb dis-posal officer having to go near it.The weapon was tried, for the firsttime, in Corporation Street, Belfastearlier this week and it was foundthat the dummy rocket dispersedpart of the bomb away from its deto-nator, so that there was only a smallexplosion.

Saturday 15th April 1972Cinema bombedThe biggest explosion of the nightwas at a cinema at Circular Road.Cinema staff found the explosivesand called in Army experts. Theyfound the device too dangerous todismantle and detonated it. Theblast blew the roof off and caused

extensive damage to the rest of thebuilding.

Saturday 15th April 1972Customs post attackedThe customs post at Tullyhommon,Pettigo, has been bombed. It is saidthat four men arrived by car andthrew the bomb at the post. Thepost, which has been bombed sev-eral times before, is sited in a cara-van.

Saturday 15th April 1972Pipe bomb thrown a houseShortly after midnight a pipe bombwas thrown at a private house atDaly Park, Tullycarnet estate,

Dundonald. The device broke glassin the front door and caused slightdamage.

Saturday 15th April 1972Shots fired in BelfastNine shots have been fired at anArmy post in Ballymurphy just be-fore tea time. No soldiers were in-jured and fire was not returned.At 6.25 heavy automatic fire wasdirected at the Army observationpost at Springfield Parade. No hitswere recorded and fire was not re-turned.18 shots were fired at soldiers onduty at the Divis Drive bus depot.


LEFT - Army and RUC experts searchthrough the wreckage after a bombexplosion in Main Street, Castlederg.FACING PAGE - Another view of thedestruction in Castlederg

Nine shots were returned but no onewas injured.In the Suffolk Road area of Belfastthree shots were directed at soldiers.No one was injured in the shootingand fire was not returned.

Saturday 15th April 1972Incendiary device explodesA small incendiary device has ex-ploded at a motor company’spremises on the Albertbridge Road.The device exploded at around 9.25but caused little damage.

Saturday 15th April 1972Nail bomb thrown at troopsSoldiers have escaped injury hen anail bomb was thrown at the vehi-cle in which they were travelling.The attack took place at RiverdalePark East.

Saturday 15th April 1972Sentry attackedA single shot has been fired at aArmy sentry. The sentry, who wason duty at Holywood Barracks, wasnot injured in the attack.

Saturday 15th April 1972RUC men attackedTwo shots have been fired at anRUC Land Rover outsideCoalisland. None of the roundsstruck the vehicle and no one wasinjured.

Saturday 15th April 1972Arms find near RasharkinThe RUC have discovered a quan-tity of arms and ammunition in ariverbank dug-out during a searchof the Cortrichey area, nearRasharkin. The weapons includedone Lee Enfield rifle, one M1 car-bine, one magazine for a Thompsonsub-machine gun, 141 rounds ofassorted ammunition, 20 detona-tors, 22 sticks of gelignite as wellas fuse wire, a timing device andother explosive materials.

Saturday 15th April 1972Buses hijackedTwo armed and masked men havehi-jacked a bus belonging toUlsterbus at the Red Ford housingestate on the old Moy-Dunganonroad. The men were waiting at a

bus stop along with other passen-gers. They ordered the driver outof the bus and then drove it away.It was later found burned out.In another raid, gunmen hi-jackeda private bus at Shean, Forkhill, inSouth Armagh. The men orderedthe driver out before sprinkling pet-rol about the vehicle and setting iton fire.

Saturday 15th April 1972Enter ‘No go’ areas says MPA Conservative MP, John Stokes,has told a meeting in Haleowen,Worcs, that a military force, possi-bly of several thousands, will haveto enter the “no-go” areas if localpeople do not chase out the gunmen.Addressing his audience the MPsaid that civilians would have to beevacuated and “the Army wouldhave to shoot it out until the gun-men are captured or killed.” He alsostated that this might take 24 hoursor more and that heavy casualtiesmight be incurred. He stated thathe felt there was no alternative tothis.

Saturday 15th April 1972Man shot dead in BelfastA man shot dead in Belfast today isbelieved to be Joseph McCann, ahigh ranking IRA officer.

Monday 17th April 1972Death of Joe McCannThe shooting in Belfast on Satur-day of Official IRA man Joe


McCann will leave a gap in theranks of the movement which willbe nearly impossible to fill. He wasofficer commanding of the 1st bat-talion, Official IRA and the areashe controlled were the New Lodge,Ardoyne, Unity Flats, Markets andBallymacarrett.McCann, aged 25, and the father offour young children, was wanted bythe RUC in connection with shoot-ing incidents in which members ofthe security forces were killed andinjured. According to securitysources McCann had been nick-named “The Fox” had been a diffi-cult man to find. He is said to havemoved around his command area,the biggest in Belfast, wearingheavy disguises. When he was shothe had grown his hair long and dyedit ginger.To the men under his command hewas a sort of Che Guevara and theydemonstrated their anger at his kill-ing by launching the most intensiveattack on the Army in Belfast andDerry for some time. The OfficialIRA teamed up with the

Provisionals and proudly boastedthat the three soldiers killed on Sun-day were in revenge for the shoot-ing of McCann. McCann is alsoreported to hold a position on thecommand staff of the Officials inDublin.

Monday 17th April 1972Three soldiers killedThree soldiers and a civilian havedied in Belfast and Derry over theweekend following the shooting ofa top IRA man on Saturday. At leastseven people received gunshotwounds and one is seriously ill inhospital in Derry. More than 500rounds have been fired at troops andRUC personnel in Belfast and anattempt was made on the life of anoff-duty member of the UDR. Theshooting and rioting started early onSaturday after troops shot dead IRAleader Joseph McCann in JoyStreet, off May Street.As troops and police came underheavy fire in Divis Street, an officerin the 3rd Battalion, Royal AnglicanRegiment, was shot in the chest and

later died in hospital. Second Lt.Nicholas Hull was directing the re-moval of barricades from of an ar-moured car when sniper’s bulletcame through the slit and struckhim.In Derry Corporal Gerard Bristow,aged 26, of the 1st Battalion, theWelch Fusiliers, died in hospitalfrom wounds he received when agunman fired on his patrol at thejunction of Bishop and FergusonStreets. He was married with a oneyear old son.Private Martin Robinson, aged 21,of the 1st Battalion Worcester andSherwood Foresters was killedwhen a gunman fired from the CityCemetery at the Brandywell Armypost.Two soldiers have been wounded inLittle James Street, Derry, as theirpatrol tried to disperse rioters. Thecondition of one of the soldiers,who had an artery in his leg sev-ered, is described as serious.The man who died from gunshotwounds on Saturday has been iden-tified as Mr. Sean McConville. Mr.McConville was shot near his homeon the Crumlin Road at around7.00pm. There are conflicting re-ports concerning the circumstancesof his death. Some people have saidthat he was shot from a passing carwhile another report says that hewas killed by a gunman on foot.

Monday 17th April 1972500 lb bombThe RUC have issued radio andPress warnings in Derry in an ef-fort to evacuate a half mile area ofthe Bogside after reports that there


ABOVE - Hijacked buses burning onthe Springfield Road.FACING PAGE - The scene atBawnmore Grove after three men diedin an explosion.

was a 500lb bomb in a local fac-tory. The RUC were unable to con-duct the evacuation themselves asthe Essex International factory is ina no-go area. According to reportsthe only troops in the area are inBligh’s Lane Army post and theythemselves are also getting out. AnRUC spokesman has said they re-ceived a warning from the IRA thatthey had planted a bomb in the areaand that it had failed to go off andwas in a dangerous condition.

Monday 17th April 1972Arms dump discoveredMen of the 23rd Engineer Regimenthave discovered a large IRA armsdump in East Belfast. It is believedthat bombs may well have beenmade at the same place. Troopsmade the find during a search ofbuildings in Madrid Street.Found during the search were 568electric detonators, 58 ordinarydetonators, one sawn-off shotgun,79 shotgun cartridges, 78 .303rounds, 11 .45 rounds, 29 .310rounds, six home made brassbombs, one 2lb bag of gelignite andseveral sticks of gelignite. Severalbottles and other bomb making sun-dries were also found.

Monday 17th April 1972Protestant jail protestAbout 30 Protestant women fromthe Shankill and Crumlin Roadshave protested outside CrumlinRoad Jail. They were carrying plac-ards calling for the release of loy-alist prisoners. There were no inci-dents.

Monday 17th April 1972Civilians and soldier woundedTwo civilians and a soldier havebeen wounded in gun battles whichhave raged in Belfast since the earlyhours of the morning. One of thecivilians was shot in the head bymen of the East Anglican Regimentin the Divis Street area. They claimhe fired on an armoured car and washit when the soldiers shot back.According to an Army officer at thescene, the soldiers could not get outof the vehicle because of the intensesniper fire which was being directedtowards them from the Divis Flatscomplex; however he said that theman had almost certainly died. Thebullet he said struck him in the face.Earlier in the afternoon the Armyclaimed they shot a gunman afterAndersonstown bus depot, which isunder Army guard, was attacked.The shots are believed to have comefrom the cemetery opposite and theinjured man was whisked away by

companions.The soldier was shot while on dutyin North Howard Street in the lowerFalls area of Belfast. He was struckin the hip. His condition is notknown.

Monday 17th April 1972IRA can get freedom says priestA Catholic priest, the Rev SeanMcManus, who is a brother of Mr.Frank McManus, the WestminsterMP, has claimed in a newspaperarticle that the Provisional IRAalone could unite Ireland andachieve its freedom. His articlepublished in the Dublin Irish Lan-guage newspaper “The Republic,”says that the Provisional IRA hasproven to the world that the funda-


mental cause of Ireland’s agony wasnot religion but foreign occupation.

Monday 17th April 1972Rally told “Back the IRA”Young men have been urged to jointhe IRA by Mrs Maire Drumm at a“Fight on” rally which was held atthe weekend in Belfast’sAndersonstown estate and attendedby more than 1,500 people. MrsDrumm said that she was notagainst peace but stated that it hadto be peace with justice and that thefight of 50 years would continueuntil it was won.Other speakers at the rally were MrsMary McGuigan, mother of the

only man to have escaped fromLong Kesh, and Mrs Nan Saunders,whose 20-year-old son was recentlyshot dead. Mrs. Saunders told thecrowd that “’til the day I die the IRAwill have my support.”

Monday 17th April 1972Baby injured in gun attackAs vehicles were being hi-jacked inthe Whiterock Road area of Belfastafter news spread of the killing ofBelfast IRA man Joseph McCann,an 18-month old baby, JohnO’Rawe, of Braemer Street wasstruck in the ankle by a stray bul-let. His condition is not describedas serious.

Monday 17th April 1972UDR man attackedFour shots have been fired from apassing car at an off duty UDR manin the Knock area. The part timesoldier, who was accompanied byhis wife, was not hit.

Monday 17th April 1972Vigilante shotA 42-year-old South Derry garageowner has been seriously inured ina shooting incident in Swatragh.The man, who had been on vigilantepatrol in the town, was shot from apassing car.


Monday 17th April 1972Fisherman woundedIn Toomebridge three gunmen tooka 45-year-old fisherman from a puband shot him four times in one legand once in the other. The reasonfor the attack is not known.

Monday 17th April 1972Ballymurphy gun attackAn Army spokesman has claimedthat soldiers have shot and woundeda gunman near to the Army post atthe Henry Taggart Memorial Hall.The man was then dragged awayfrom the scene. A second gunman,say the Army, has been shot inAndersonstown.

Monday 17th April 1972Four RUC barracks attackedFour RUC barracks have been at-tacked in Belfast at the weekend.The barracks attacked were Hast-ings Street, Glenravel Street,Oldpark Road and Andersonstown.

Monday 17th April 1972Garage bombedCoulter’s garage on the AntrimRoad has been badly damagedwhen a car, containing 10lbs of gel-ignite exploded outside it.

Monday 17th April 1972Gardai in baton chargeA large force of police used theirbatons in Clones to disperse acrowd of around 300 people. Thecrowd had assembled near theGardai station earlier in the day af-ter two men were arrested follow-ing an incident at the border.Around 100 Gardai in riot gear at-

tacked the crowd after they blockeda street and broke some windowsin nearby houses.

Monday 17th April 1972Parades ban hits BBThe ban on parades has hit the BoysBrigade in Belfast. Normallyaround 5,000 march to their annualchurch service. However this yearonly 2,000 were in attendance, nouniforms were worn and they didnot march.

Monday 17th April 1972Vigilantes in BallymoneyFollowing the recent bomb attackat Ballymoney a vigilante group hasbeen formed in the town. It is con-sists up of local shopkeepers wholook after the streets at certaintimes.

Monday 17th April 1972Scotsmen on gelignite chargeFour Scotsmen have been re-manded at a Special Court in Larneon charges of having 124 sticks ofgelignite.

Monday 17th April 1972Limavady bans trafficLimavady has banned all trafficfrom their chief shopping centre ina bid to beat the car bombers. Mar-ket Street, Limavady’s principalshopping centre, is now closed toall traffic.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Wounded prisoners flee hospitalTwo men, suffering from gunshotwounds, have escaped fromMusgrave Park Military Hospital.

They were recovering from theirinjuries in the prison ward and madetheir getaway around 2.00am. Atleast one of the men has alreadyappeared several times on armscharges and was remanded in cus-tody. One of the escapers had beenshot in the stomach and the other inthe leg. Troops are believed to beusing tracker dogs to help find themen. Both of the men are believedto be members of the ProvisionalIRA. An inquiry is being launchedinto the escape. It is thought thatthe men managed to saw throughthe bars on their windows.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Derry bomb alert overThe Essex factory bomb dramaended today when a convoy ofArmy vehicles left the factory car-rying the 460lb of gelignite plantedthere by the IRA twenty four hoursearlier. It is expected that the gel-ignite, which is said to be in a dan-gerous condition, will be blown upby the army. There had been re-ports that land mines had beenplanted in the Lone Moor Road, themost likely route by which the gel-ignite could be brought out of thearea. The IRA had earlier clearedthe barricade at the junction ofWestland Street and Lone MoorRoad to leave a clear route for theArmy.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Army posts attackedThe Brandywell Army post in Derryhas come under attack when threelow velocity and four high velocityshots were fired. The Army re-


turned fire but no hits were claimed.Troops in an observation post atBlack Mountain also came undersniper fire over a one hour period.There were no casualties. An Armyspokesman said that the shootingcame from the Whiterock/DermottHill area.

Tuesday 18th April 1972UDR mobilisedThe two Belfast battalions of theUlster Defence Regiment, totallingabout 1,000 men, have been put onfull time duty as a massive securityoperation began in the city. Trafficin Belfast came to a standstill andthousands of people were late forwork as troops searched vehicles onall the major roads into the city asthey prepared for the funeral of IRAleader Joe McCann.

Tuesday 18th April 19725,000 attend funeralTwo MP’s – Mr. Paddy Devlin andMr. Paddy Kennedy – followed thefuneral of IRA leader JosephMcCann in Turf Lodge this after-noon. They were among an esti-mated 5,000 mourners whomarched behind the coffin as itmade its way to Milltown Cem-etery. It took 25 minutes to passany one point on the Glen Road andwas the biggest show of strength bythe Official IRA in Belfast for sometime. IRA units marched togetheras one of the most disciplined fu-nerals seen in the North began.About 120 young girls carriedwreaths and green bereted younggirls marched in military fashionbehind them. Some observers saidthat members of the ProvisionalIRA joined the funeral to pay their

tribute to McCann. One contingentin the procession was headed by aman leading an Irish wolfhoundwhich belonged to the dead man.Official IRA Chief of Staff, CathalGoulding, was present in Belfast forthe funeral and gave the gravesideoration.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Army claim 20 hitsIn the 24 hours up until 8.30 thismorning a youth was confirmeddead, the body of an 80-year oldman with gunshot wounds wastaken from Divis Towers, and theArmy claimed 20 direct hits on gun-men.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Four thought deadFour men are believed dead follow-ing battles between the Army andthe IRA during the night and at least20 people have been wounded. Onedefinite casualty was Patrick JosephMagee a student teacher who diedwhen troops returned fire after some300 rounds were fired at them in theDivis Street area. An Army spokes-man said the gunmen were operat-ing from Divis Flats and St.Comgall’s School.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Boy shot in BelfastIn the New Lodge area Belfast aneight year old boy, named locallyas Paul Collins from North QueenStreet, was shot in the stomachwhen a gunman opened fire fromArtillery Flats on troops in GreatGeorge’s Street. He is in hospitaland his condition is being describedas “comfortable.”


ABOVE - Divis Street after a night ofrioting.FACING PAGE - Clearing up after abomb attack in Grosvenor Road

Tuesday 18th April 1972Gun battle in Turf LodgeOf the gun battles which took placein the city the biggest occurred inTurf Lodge and troops reported thatthey shot five gunmen in the area.According to an Army spokesmantwelve gunmen, using Thompsonsub machineguns, M1 carbines, pis-tols and possibly a rifle which hadbeen stolen from the Army, openedfire from the direction of theroundabout and Norglen Flats.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Belfast gun attacksTroops came under fire overnightin several parts of Belfast includ-ing Broadway, Oldpark, BallykellyStreet and the Henry Taggart Me-morial Hall. Shots were also re-ported to have been fired the Boneand Louis Street, Oldpark and fromthe Divis Street complex towardsPercy Street.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Cafe bombedSix people, including three childrenwere treated for cuts and shock af-ter an explosion ripped through theContinental Cafe, Castle Street, justbefore midnight. The bomb, con-taining between 50 and 100lbs ofexplosives, caused structural dam-age to the rear of the building andblew out the front windows. Win-dows in surrounding premises werealso shattered.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Short Strand attacksThree small bombs have beenthrown from Anderson Street intothe Short Strand bus depot. Two

buses were damaged when two ofthe bombs exploded. The third de-vice was defused.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Gelignite discoveredA quantity of gelignite has beenfound in a telephone kiosk. Thefind was made in Twaddell Avenue.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Belfast man is tarred and feath-eredA Belfast man is in hospital afterbeing tarred and feathered and shotthrough the left leg at LenadoonAvenue. The man, from FalcarraghDrive, is reported to have had hisleg bone fractured by the shot. Hewas found with a notice around hisneck alleging that he had stolenpurses.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Claymore mine in FermanaghMen of the 16/5th Lancers have es-caped injury when a claymore mineexploded near their armoured ve-hicles at Belleek, County Ferman-agh. The blast blew a seven foothole in a stone wall.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Newry attackA soldier has been slightly injuredwhen gunmen opened fire at Vio-let’s Hill, Newry. Fire was not re-turned.

Tuesday 18th April 1972UDR man kidnappedNeither wing of the IRA was avail-able for comment in Dublin on the


kidnapping of a UDR man near theborder at Newry. The kidnappingbore the stamp of other abductionsclaimed by the IRA.The man was Mr. James Elliott, a33-year-old corporal in ‘C’ Com-pany of the Third County Downbattalion. He had just driven hisfirm’s lorry from the South whenhe was ordered from the cab bygunmen and taken back across theborder. The incident took placenear Killeen, the scene of other kid-nap operations.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Shot youth buriedThe funeral has taken place inMilltown Cemetery of 17-year-oldSean McConville. Mr. McConvillehad been walking home with a

friend when a man called him overto his car and asked him directionsto Brompton Park. As he bent downto give directions he was shot fivetimes in the chest and stomach.

Tuesday 18th April 1972Weapons found in BelfastThree air guns and 171 rounds ofassorted ammunition have beenfound by the security forces duringsearches in the Unity Flats complex.Two people have been arrested.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Sniper fires on soldiersA sniper has fired seven or eightshots at soldiers of the Royal An-glican Regiment in Albert Streetmill, Belfast. There were no casu-

alties and fire was not returned. Agunman has also opened fire on theArmy observation post atBrandywell in Derry. Soldiersreturned fire but no hits werereported.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Body found on borderA man’s body has been discoveredon a lonely road outsideNewtownhamilton in South Ar-magh. The man, who has not yetbeen identified, was shot throughthe head and the killing has all thehallmarks of an IRA assassination.As soldiers of the Devon and Dor-set Regiment moved in the areaknown as Woodbridge,Altnamackin, on foot they discov-ered wire running from a culvertacross the border. A further exami-nation of the area revealed sixdeadly claymore mines and 200lbsof gelignite.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Teenage girl injuredAn 18-year-old girl has been shotin the thigh as her car stopped attraffic lights at the junction ofWoodstock Street and WoodstockRoad. The RUC believe that theshots were intended for a militarypatrol which had just passed thoughthe lights. She was taken to theRoyal Victoria Hospital where hercondition is described as satisfac-tory.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Fireman woundedA fireman has been shot in the handas he fought a blaze in a derelictbuilding on the Grosvenor Road.


LEFT- A soldier sheltering behind abrick wall after the IRA opened fire fromDivis Flats.FACING PAGE - Troops open fire withbaton rounds while removing abarricade in Derry.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Escapee recapturedThe Army has recaptured one of thetwo men who escaped fromMusgrave Park Hospital. He isJames Mulvenna of Gracehill Streetand he was captured in MilltownCemetery still wearing his pyjamas.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Bus depot attackedA bus in the Short Strand depot hasbeen damaged as two blast bombswere thrown over the depot wall forthe second night in succession.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Belfast gun attacksAn Army spokesman has said thatthere were a total of 21 shootingincidents in Belfast during the night.In 16 of these attacks shots were

fired at troops who returned fire onfour occasions.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Man namedThe RUC have named the 80-year-old man who was found shot deadin Divis Tower Flats. He is PatrickDonaghy.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Nail bombs thrownNail bombs have been at a Protes-tant crowd in the Donegal Road –Broadway area. There was alsoautomatic gunfire across the bottomsection of the M1 motorway fromthe Rodney Street area.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Shotgun explodesA shotgun has blown up as threeyouths fired a shot at an RUC pa-

trol at Lavinia Street in the Ormeauarea. The youths ran off leaving thegun behind. None of the RUC menwere injured in the attack.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Derry attacksDerry had what has been describedas a relatively peaceful night butthere were a number of shootingsincidents in which the Armyclaimed three hits on three gunmen.At the Bligh’s Lane post a sentryopened fire on a man seen carryinga gun. In another incident, troopsshot at a group of men seen takingup firing positions behind a car inGartan Square. One of the men wasseen to fall and was dragged away.Gunmen have also used a lorry ascover to shoot at an Army observa-tion post in Brandywell. Therewere no reports of casualties andtroops returned the fire.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Riots in LurganAccording to the Army a crowd ofaround 200 people started throwingbottles into Victoria Street, whichis mainly Protestant. Troops firedbaton rounds to disperse the crowd.A car was turned on its side duringthe incident.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Helicopter attackedTwelve shots have been fired at anArmy helicopter which was circling


near the village of Ballygawley.None of the crew was hurt and thehelicopter was able to return to itsbase safely.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Troops open fire in NewryThe Army in Newry has fired oneshot at a group of four men afterthey were spotted with guns. Theincident happened after the patrolchallenged the men in the Derrybegestate.

Wednesday 19th April 1972UDR patrol attackedAutomatic fire has been directed ata patrol of the UDR at Dungiven.Fire was returned but there were nocasualties.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Bread van burnedTwo gunmen have set fire to abreadvan at Rosslea. After robbingthe driver they escaped across theborder.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Goulding to stand trialThe date of the 11th of May has beenset for the trial of Cathal Goulding,IRA Chief of Staff, on charges ofincitement. Goulding is chargedwith inciting persons to unlawfullyand maliciously cause by explosivesubstances explosions of a naturelikely to endanger life or to causeserious injury to property. He isalso charged with inciting people tounlawfully and maliciously shoot atpersons with intent to do grievousbodily harm. The charges relate toan oration given by him at the fu-neral of Martin O’Leary who died

in an explosion at the Mogul Minesin Tipperary in July.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Warrant issued for escaperA bench warrant has been issued forone of two men who escaped fromMusgrave Park Hospital on Tues-day, after he failed to appear beforeBelfast Magistrate’s court. Theman, 19-year-old Francis GerardQuigley was being treated hospitalfor gunshot wounds when he es-caped.

Wednesday 19th April 1972Concern over missing UDR manConcern is mounting over the safetyof a UDR corporal kidnapped agunpoint on the Newry border onMonday evening. The Officialwing of the IRA is reported to havedenied having the corporal but theProvisionals are not commenting.Irish police have been searching for33-year-old Mr. James Elliott fromRathfriland since he was abductedby armed men as he crossed into theNorth at Killeen driving his firm’slorry. He was taken back across theborder and almost two days after the

kidnapping there is still no word asto his whereabouts. The Presbyte-rian Church, to which Mr. Elliottand his family belong, has been at-tempting to contact IRA leaders inDublin in an appeal for Mr. Elliott’srelease.The Official IRA in Dublin has saidthat none of its units were involvedin the kidnapping but theProvisionals said that they had noauthority from the Irish RepublicanPublicity Bureau to comment.

Wednesday 19th April 1972RUC men injured in bomb attackAn RUC man has been injured anddozens of buildings damaged whencar bombs exploded in Belfast andNewtownstewart. The RUC manwas hurt when the first car bombexploded at Castlereagh Street. Hewas struck by a piece of flying kerb-stone. Two other RUC men wereslightly injured when the 40lb bombexploded. The Belfast explosiondevastated a wide area and was thesecond in the same street in twoweeks. A row of six shops werevery badly damaged and windowswere smashed for the length of


LEFT - Army checkpoint on the Queen’sBridge

about 100 yards on both sides of thestreet. A warning had been receivedthat the bomb would explode in 10minutes but it was more than a halfhour before it exploded, by whichtime the area had been evacuated.About 20 shops were damagedwhen the other car bomb explodedat Newtownstewart shortly beforelunchtime. Worst hit were a hoteland a drapery store nearest to theseat of the explosion. A warninghad been given and no one was in-jured by the 25lb bomb.

Thursday 20th April 1972Armagh Prison hostage dramaLate this afternoon there has beena claim that one prison officer hasbeen shot dead as the authoritiesrefused the prisoners demands forsafe conduct to the border, but asyet officials cannot confirm this.The drama began at 12.30pm whennine prisoners were driven back toArmagh Prison after appearing atin court. They were accompaniedin the van by an armed RUC manand two warders. As the van drewup in the prison yard the nine pris-

oners jumped their guards and suc-ceeded in jumping the RUC man,seizing his pistol. A shot was firedduring the struggle but no one wasinjured. After hours of apparentstalemate a figure, believed to bethe RUC man hostage shouted:“One prison warder has been shotdead.” He said that he was a policehostage and that he and anotherwarder were unharmed.Armagh prison was originally forwomen only, but then it was usedas a borstal and in recent monthsremand prisoners have been heldthere.

Thursday 20th April 1972Man abducted in BelfastSecurity forces were today search-ing for a kidnapped Andersonstownman whose brother was shot deadin the area on Wednesday night.Martin Paul Owens, aged 22, wasmarried with one child, was thrownfrom a car at Horn Drive, Suffolkabout 11.00pm and shot repeatedly.Earlier his brother was taken awayfrom a club on the Suffolk Road.The dead man was shot three times

in the chest, once in the head andonce in the back. It has been saidlocally that the dead man had beena detainee on the Maidstone prisonship earlier in the year. His kidnap-ping and shooting is said to bear allthe hallmarks of an IRA “justice”operation.

Thursday 20th April 1972UDR man was executedFeelings were running high inRathfriland overnight after it wasconfirmed that the kidnapped UDRman James Elliott’s body was dis-covered on the border. He had beenshot through the head and back andhis body surrounded by a minefieldof six claymore devices and a huge500lb bomb only feet from thebody. Mr. Elliott’s funeral will takeplace on Friday.

Thursday 20th April 1972Soldier wounded in BelfastA soldier in the Royal Regiment ofWales has been shot and seriouslyinjured as he worked at his base inFiniston School off the OldparkRoad, Belfast. He was hit in theback and shoulder after seven shotswere fired by a gunman. He wasrushed to the Royal Victoria Hos-pital. The gunman is believed tohave been operating from theArdilea Street area.

Thursday 20th April 1972Border attackTwo gunmen on the Southern sideof the border, near Castlederg, havefired six shots at a mobile Army


patrol. Two men were seen walk-ing away after the incident but thetroops did not return fire.

Thursday 20th April 1972Derry shootingIn Derry troops fired at a gunmanin Ann Street but did not hit him.Later a gunman fired at soldiers onthe city walls but there were nocasualties.

Thursday 20th April 1972Incendiary bomb explodesAn incendiary device, which wasplanted by three armed men at ashop on Belfast’s Shore Road, hasexploded wrecking the building.The men burst into McKinney’sPaint Shop at Whiteabbey just af-ter 2.00pm and planted the bomb.No one was injured in the attack.

Thursday 20th April 1972Belfast gun attacksFrequent sniper attacks have beenmade on troops in the Lower Fallsarea of Belfast. According to theArmy much of the gunfire camefrom Divis Flats and St. Comgall’sSchool and on at least two occa-sions from the grounds of St. Pe-ter’s Church. During one exchangeof fire troops believe they hit a gun-man who opened up from DivisTower. A man inside the flat com-plex was seen to fall.The most concentrated gunfirecame in a burst of about 30 shotsjust after six o’clock. The Armybelieves the gunmen were firingfrom St. Comgall’s School and St.Peter’s Church grounds. Minuteslater an Army vehicle checkpoint at

North Howard Street – Falls Roadwas fired on. Eight shots camefrom Peel Street but there were nocasualties and fire was not returned.Heavy firing continued in the areaand 20 automatic shots were firedat troops in Percy Street again, theArmy believes from the grounds ofSt. Peters. Three shots were alsofired at Andersonstown RUC bar-racks but there were no casualties.As the gunfire continued in theLower Falls area a soldier receiveda minor flesh wound in Divis Street.Ten shots was also fired at an ob-servation post on the peace-linefrom Divis Street direction. Thesoldiers fired back but claimed nohits.Later the Army claimed they hitanother gunman after sniper fire onthe observation post at Cupar Street.Two RUC men in the street had todive for cover as the shots rang out.The fire came from a nearby milland a patrol of the Kings Own Scot-tish Borderer’s advanced towardsthe building and they believe they

may have hit a gunman. Shortlyafter this six shots were heard inLenadoon Avenue and one nearMilltown Cemetery. The securityforces were not involved in eitherincident. Soldiers also used batonrounds to disperse youths that gath-ered in the Falls area throughout theevening. Two members of the RUCReserve on duty at BeechfieldStreet-Thistle Street were fired onbut neither was injured.

Thursday 20th April 1972Jail protestAccording to the Army stones werethrown at soldiers at Chief Streetafter a protest meeting outsideCrumlin Road Jail. About 150 peo-ple took part in the protest, demand-ing the release of loyalist “politicalprisoners.”

Thursday 20th April 1972Car burned at RathfrilandSensed at the killing of a local UDRman, whose body was found on theborder, 50 youths threw stones and


smashed shop windows in the town.The crowd then set fire to a car andfour youths were arrested.

Thursday 20th April 1972Paint poured over girlsTwo teenage girls had their hairshorn and paint poured over themafter being bundled into a car while

walking on the Stewartstown Road,in Coalisland.

Thursday 20th April 1972Enniskillen explosionAn explosion near midnight dam-aged a Housing Executive office,two shops and a school in theCornagrade estate, Enniskillen. It

is thought that a 10 lb bomb wasplanted in a dustbin at the rear ofthe housing office.Several glass fibre boats were alsodamaged when a fire swept throughthe Erne Plastics factory atBallycassidy.

Thursday 20th April 1972Customs posts destroyed in DerryTwo customs posts at Molenan andKilleg on the outskirts of the cityhave been destroyed by fire and anexplosion has slightly damaged anelectricity transformer at Carnhillhousing estate in the Shantallowarea.There was minor rioting in theWilliam Street area and a gunmanhas fired at Bligh’s Lane Army post.Fire was returned but there were nohits. Earlier, three shots were firedat soldiers dealing with a blazestarted by a petrol bomb at Bligh’sLane. There were no casualties.

Thursday 20th April 1972UDR patrol attacked in ArmaghAbout eight shots were fired at aUDR patrol on the Ring Road atArmagh. None of the soldiers wereinjured. Youths also stoned a pa-trol at Windmill Road.

Thursday 20th April 1972Baton rounds fired in LurganSecurity forces were again con-fronted by mobs of youths in theKilwilkie Estate. Troops fired ba-ton rounds to disperse them. Twopetrol bombs were also hurled at anArmy patrol in Levin Road. Youthsalso fired petrol bombs into thegrounds of the Glendinning textile


factory at Lake Street–VictoriaStreet.

Thursday 20th April 1972Temporary customs post de-stroyedThe temporary customs post atKilleen was again destroyed by fireand a farmer repairing a stone wallnear Newry has discovered 135rounds of .45 ammunition inside abox.

Thursday 20th April 1972Student teacher buriedOver 1,000 people have attendedthe funeral of 20-year-old studentteacher at Milltown Cemetery. Thedead man had been trying to takecover when he was shot. A secondvictim of the gun battles has alsoburied he is Patrick Donaghy, whowas found dead inside Divis Tower.Although both men died from gun-shot wounds it has not been estab-lished who shot them.

Thursday 20th April 1972Girls engaged to soldiersIt has been revealed today that the

two girls who had their hair cut andpaint poured over them inCoalisland last night are both en-gaged to soldiers.

Thursday 20th April 1972Army posts attackedArmy posts in Belfast and Derryhave come under fire today butthere were no casualties on eitherside. Eight shots were fired at theBrandywell post in Derry and inBelfast two bursts of automatic fireand two single shots were fired atthe Louisa Street post. The Armyreturned fire on both occasions

Friday 21st April 1972Taxi driver shot dead in BelfastAn 18-year-old taxi driver has beenshot dead in Belfast. The man,Gerard Donnelly from Kinross Av-enue was shot dead as he sat in thedriver’s seat of his taxi. He hadpicked up two men in Belfast andbrought them to the Ardoyne areaof Belfast. Mr. Donnelly staggeredfrom his white Vauxhall inHarrybrook Street off the CrumlinRoad, blood pouring from the

wound and collapsed in a nearbyhouse. Mr. Donnelly was a Catho-lic who was married to a Protestant.

Friday 21st April 1972Youths shot in BelfastThe RUC are waiting at the hospi-tal bedsides of two Catholic youthswho have been shot in DenmarkStreet close to Carlisle Circus. Thepair were standing outside a localcafé when they were approached bytwo men who ordered them awayat gunpoint. One of the teenagerswas shot in the mouth and his friendin the armpit. The RUC are tryingto find a motive for the shooting.

Friday 21st April 1972IRA suspected of killingLenadoon manIt is thought that 22-year-old Mar-tin Paul Owens from Lenadoon wasexecuted by the IRA and that hisbrother had been arrested by themearlier by mistake. Some sourcesbelieve the killings were carried outby extreme Protestants but the se-curity forces are taking the line thatif this had been the case then bothbrothers would have been shot.

Friday 21st April 1972Soldiers wounded in BelfastTwo privates in the Royal AnglicanRegiment have been seriouslywounded when a gunman in a pass-ing car opened fire in the LowerFalls area. A burst of automatic firestruck the slow moving Army ve-hicle as it was patrolling SevastopolStreet. Bullets struck the soldierswho were sitting just inside the ar-moured rear doors. As the bulletsthudded into the vehicle there was


FACING PAGE - Firemen tackle a blazeafter an attack on property on theSomerton Road

no opportunity to return fire. Shotshit one of the soldiers in the chestand elbow and struck the other inthe leg. The gunmen, firing from acar window, drove off at high speedalong the Falls Road.

Friday 21st April 1972Catholic shopkeeper intimidatedA Catholic shopkeeper had to begiven an RUC escort when he ar-rived to open his shop in East Bel-fast. Outside “Joey’s” fruit and veg-etable shop at the corner ofTemplemore Avenue andCastlereagh Street were more than30 Protestant women carrying outa picket. The shop is one of the fewCatholic owned shops in the area.One woman, who was picketing theshop, stuck an orange sticker above

the door of the shop saying “Boy-cott this shop.”

Friday 21st April 1972Bomb wrecks engineering worksTwo people have been treated forshock after an explosion damagedan electrical engineering works offDurham Street. The blast was at thefirm of Jennings and the bombbadly damaged the premises andsmashed windows in the surround-ing areas. The bomb is estimatedto have contained between 50 and100lbs of explosives.

Friday 21st April 1972“No-go” areas will endUlster Supremo William Whitelawhas pledged to tackle the IRAstrongholds in Derry’s Bogside andCreggan areas. The No Go areashe said are “a major problem and

one we will have to tackle and wewill. But to try to do this by mili-tary means alone and would involvesubstantial casualties of innocentmen and women. It would bewrong and cause great bitterness. Iam not going to cause unnecessaryloss of life. But this doesn’t meanthe problem is not going to besolved. It is.”

Friday 21st April 1972Death toll reaches 311With the death of a Dundonald teen-ager overnight, the death-toll sincethe troubles stared has risen to 311.

Friday 21st April 1972Soldier wounded in ArdoyneA soldier has been wounded in thearm when a burst of shots was firedat a personnel carrier in BromptonPark. Troops have claimed they hita gunman when they returned fireat a sniper in nearby Berwick Road.The man was seen to fall but troopswere unable to reach his body. Anambulance was later seen in thearea.

Friday 21st April 1972Nail bomb thrown at soldiersA nail bomb has been thrown at amobile patrol of the Kings OwnScottish Borderers in Rodney Pa-rade but there were no casualties.

Friday 21st April 1972Catholic owned public house at-tackedOne woman was slightly injured


when three bombs were hurledacross the peace line into CuparStreet from Kashmir Road.The window of a police Land Roverwas also shattered when a crowd of300 gathered outside two Catholicowned public houses in theTemplemore area but there were nofurther incidents and the crowdeventually dispersed peacefully.

Friday 21st April 1972Derry has relatively quiet nightDerry as had a comparatively quietnight but four shots were fired atan Army patrol in the Springtownarea.At Drumahoe on the outskirts of thecity, three armed youths held up an

attendant at a petrol station and gotaway with about £70 after one ofthem fired a shot into the counter.

Friday 21st April 1972Bomb explodes in DungannonA 12lb bomb has extensively dam-aged a hairdressing salon in Tho-mas Street, Dungannon.

Friday 21st April 1972CS gas fired in ArmaghSoldiers in Armagh who foundthemselves encircled by a crowd ofyouths had to fire CS gas to getclear.

Friday 21st April 1972Troops use rubber bulletsTroops have used rubber bullets in

Newry to break up stone throwingyouths in the Derrybeg estate.

Friday 21st April 1972Catholic and Protestants clash inLurganThe Army has reported a minorstone throwing confrontation be-tween Protestant and Catholicyouths at the entrance to theShankill and Wakehurst estates.

Friday 21st April 1972Arson attack on primary schoolAn attempt has been made to set fireto Largeymore Primary School,Lisburn but it was extinguished theblaze before it caught hold.


ABOVE AND FACING PAGE -Members of the Official IRA man aroadblock in the Bogside area of Derry

Friday 21st April 1972Armagh Prison hostagesFollowing six tense hours duringwhich prisoners bargained the livesof an RUC man and two membersof the prison staff, troops and RUCburst in and overpowered the menafter CS gas had been fired. Earlyin the siege the RUC man was or-dered to say that the prisoners hadkilled a member of staff howeverthis was later proven to be untrueand that the prisoners had been try-ing to strengthen their position. Itis likely that charges relating to es-cape attempt will be brought againstsome of the prisoners.

Friday 21st April 1972Traffic restrictions at Long KeshTraffic diversions will operatewithin a mile of Long Kesh intern-ment camp on Saturday afternoon.The ban, to operate from 2.00pm,coincides with a proposed protestrally at the camp, organised by theNorthern Resistance Movement.

The RUC are also asking motoriststo avoid Newtownards on Saturdaybetween 1.00pm and 6.00pm,where between 5,000 and 7,000Orangemen are expected to attenda rally in Londonderry Park.

Friday 21st April 1972Change to RUC uniformThe Under-Secretary of State forNorthern Ireland, Mr. David Howellhas stated that it is planned to goahead with changing the colour ofRUC uniforms. However the newcolour has not yet been decided.

Saturday 22nd April 1972UDR man was tortured says rela-tiveRelatives of the 33-year-old UDRcorporal who was kidnapped andkilled last week have claimed thathe was tortured. His nose and jawshad been broken and he had beenshot several times. His body waseventually found on a border roadbeside a large bomb and surroundedby booby traps.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Explosives discovered in MarketsSoldiers have uncovered 40lbs ofexplosives in the Markets area ofBelfast during a routine search. Thediscovery was made by members ofthe Royal Horse Artillery in KeeganStreet. Earlier soldiers of the Sec-ond Field Regiment came under firein the Glen Road area of Belfast as

they were returning from a patrolon the Black Mountain. Fire wasreturned but no casualties were re-ported on either side.

Saturday 22nd April 1972RUC man woundedAn RUC detective constable hasbeen shot twice and seriouslywounded in Newry. The RUC manwas investigating a breaking andentering at Daisy Hill Nurseriesshortly before 1.00pm when a gun-man entered the office and fired twoshots. One bullet struck him in thehead, the second in the chest. Hehas been rushed to Daisy Hill Hos-pital where his condition is de-scribed as serious. His identity hasnot been revealed.


Saturday 22nd April 1972Hoax bomb in CoalislandTroops have fired rubber bullets andbaton charged a 100 strong stonethrowing mob near Coalisland af-ter explosives experts dealt with asuspect bomb under 600 gallon tankof diesel. Soldiers had sealed offthe immediate area of the tank onland at Derna, placed explosivecharges which set the fuel on fire.The bomb turned out to be a hoax.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Soldier wounded in BelfastA soldier of the King’s Own Scot-tish Borderers is said to be very se-riously ill in hospital after he wasshot on the Donegal Road. LanceCorporal Gould, a 29-year-old manfrom Edinburgh, was shot once inthe neck when one or two gunmenopened fire at his patrol from theCeltic Park area. Further rounds ofautomatic fire was then directed atthe soldiers but no one was hit. Theinjured soldier’s tour of duty herewas due to end on Tuesday.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Punishment attacks in BelfastSoldiers who went to investigate anIRA punishment attack in NorthBelfast came under sniper fire. Asthe troops approached a man whohad been shot in the leg and had aplacard around his neck accusinghim of a crime, near Artillery Flatsin North Queen Street, they cameunder attack. Fire was returned andthe soldiers said that a gunman wasseen to fall.In another attack a 26-year-old man,described as having a low mentalage, was found beaten up and tarred


LEFT - The Rev. Martin Smythaddressing a rally of the UlsterVanguard in Templemore Avenue

at Lawnbrook Avenue, off CuparStreet. He was taken to hospitalwhere he was cleaned and treated.His condition is described as notserious.

Saturday 22nd April 1972RUC men attackedTwo plain clothes RUC men whowere on duty at Peel Street in theLower Falls area of Belfast wereattacked by a crowd of around 60people. During the fighting one ofthe RUC men’s weapons was sto-len. The Army arrived on the sceneand rescued the RUC men. Al-though they were beaten they hadno serious injures.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Man and woman shot in NewryA man and woman have both beenshot in the legs as they left a pub inNewry. The couple, both Catholics,had left the premises with four otherpeople and were walking alongCanal Street when a car drew upbeside them. Shots were fired atthem from the vehicle and the carcontaining three men then drove offat speed.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Coalisland gun attackFifteen shots have been fired atCoalisland RUC base. Gunmen hadfired the shots from the direction ofan office opposite the barracks.Soldiers and RUC men returned firebut no one was injured.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Bomb at Draperstown RUC bar-racksDraperstown RUC Barracks hasbeen extensively damaged by a 50– 100lb bomb which exploded in avan outside. A warning about thebomb had been phoned and the areaevacuated. No one was hurt but twobuses and windows in surroundingbuildings were damaged.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Landmine at KeadyA 200lb bomb which was uncov-ered during an Army search on anunapproved road near Keady hasbeen dismantled and blown up bybomb disposal experts. The booby-trap, in a milk churn, was concealedin a roadside culvert atAughagurgan. Electric cable ran

from the device to a firing point 20yards across the border.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Gun battle in DerryA gun battle has ranged aroundDerry’s Rosemount RUC barracksfor more than 20 minutes and therewere a further six shooting incidentsthroughout the day. Approxi-mately 60 shots have been fired atthe RUC station by six gunmen.The Army returned fire and believethat they have hit two of them.

Saturday 22nd April 1972RTE camera crew attacked atfuneralAn RTE cameraman and his assist-ant have been beaten up as theywere filming the funeral of UDRman James Elliott. Around 150people who were standing watch-ing the funeral pass attacked thecamera crew. £4,000 worth ofequipment was destroyed.

Saturday 22nd April 1972SDLP “involved with IRA”A Young Unionist official has saidit is becoming clear that SDLP MPsare becoming more involved withthe IRA. Mr. James Rodgers, sec-retary of Belfast has said it is be-coming clear that SDLP MPs arebecoming more involved with theIRA. Mr. James Rodgers, secretaryof Belfast Young Unionists, hascriticised Mr. Ivan Cooper for say-ing that the IRA will have to be rep-resented at any talks on the future


of the country and Mr. PaddyDevlin for attending and IRA fu-neral.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Blow to Official IRA in BelfastThe Army have dealt a shatteringblow to the Official IRA in UnityWalk and New Lodge Road areasby capturing two company com-manders, two officers and four vol-unteers, all high on the wanted list.One of the men lifted is known tobe the commander of ‘E’ companyof the Officials. The present opera-tion is believed to have started onMonday when a company com-mander was captured in the UnityWalk area. It is thought that the restof his men were captured after herevealed their whereabouts. Theoperation is known to have beencarried out by the 2nd ParachuteRegiment. They took over the ar-eas from the 2nd battalion, the RoyalFusiliers, who were responsible forrounding up nearly a whole com-pany of Provisional IRA men andarresting several members of theFianna.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Soldiers seriously illEight soldiers are now being de-tained in hospital following shoot-ing incidents in Belfast since Mon-day. Four are seriously ill. Manyof the soldiers were injured in theLower Falls area of Belfast wheregun battles raged earlier in theweek.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Girls leave their homesThe two Coalisland girls who wereshorn and painted this week for frat-ernising with soldiers have left thedistrict. One of them is believed tobe on her way to England to staywith the parents of her soldierfiancé.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Propaganda campaignA campaign to alienate Welsh sol-diers from their English comradesis under way according to Republi-can sources in London. Posters ask-ing “Why are Welsh soldiers dyingin Ireland and fighting for Englishbosses” are being distributed in

Wales and the North of Ireland. Theposters being distributed in Walesare in Welsh and bear the Welshdragon, the Irish Tricolour and Un-ion Jack. The posters that are be-ing distributed in the Six Counties,which it is hoped, will catch the eyeof the Royal Welsh Fusiliers whoare serving in Derry, are printed inEnglish.

Saturday 22nd April 1972419 gun attacks in 27 daysThe House of Commons has beentold that between March 22 andApril 18 there were 419 incidentsof shots being fired at troops, re-sulting in the deaths of four mili-tary dead and 23 injured. Soldiersfired on 196 occasions three sus-pected IRA men have been Killed,and it is believed that 72 others havebeen wounded and four were ar-rested at the scene of shootings.

Saturday 22nd April 1972Rallies250 demonstrators have held ameeting at an Army barrier but werenot allowed near Long Kesh camp.400 loyalist people attended a loy-alist rally in Derry. Camera crewswere manhandled and a rival crowdburned a Union Jack.About 2,000 loyalist supportershave marched through Glasgowprotesting against the suspension ofStormont.

Monday 24th April 1972Armed raid nets £25,000Three men, one of them disguisedas an RUC man, escaped with about£25,000 after an armed raid on aPost Office mail van in


Newtownabbey on the outskirts ofBelfast. The raid began as the vancarrying mail and registered pack-ages was travelling along RathcooleDrive. The van driver saw a some-one he thought was a policeman sig-nal him to stop and when he did hewas held at gunpoint. No shotswere fired and the mal van was thendriven to the Cavehill Road and themail loaded into another vehicle.

Monday 24th April 1972Bookmaker’s bombedA pipe bomb has been thrown intoa bookmakers premises onRavensdale Street in theCastlereagh area of Belfast but therewere no casualties and only slightdamage was caused to the building.

Monday 24th April 1972UDR fundLocal people in Rathfriland have setup a fund for the widow and familyof UDR corporal James Elliott, whowas shot dead on the border.

Monday 24th April 1972Rubber bullet kills boy in BelfastAn eleven year old boy, FrancisRowntree, of Clonard Street, hasdied in hospital from injuries sus-tained during rioting in the Divis

Street area last week. Relativeshave claimed that he received afractured skull when he was struckby a rubber bullet.

Monday 24th April 1972Pensioner shot dead inCulleybackeyThe body of a 72-year-old man, Mr.Joseph Leitch, a retired farmer, wholived alone at Craigs, Cullybackey,has been discovered by a neighbour.The RUC have said that the mandied from a gunshot wound to thestomach.

Monday 24th April 1972RUC man wounded in DerryIn Derry, an RUC man is said to becomfortable in hospital after he wasshot twice in the back as he wastalking to a civilian in the back ofan RUC van in Northland Avenue.

Monday 24th April 1972Man wounded in legA supermarket owner has beentaken from his home nearMiddletown by masked raiders whoalso planted a bomb in his store.The gunman then took the man’s carand drove off towards the Mona-ghan border. The bomb exploded

as they were driving away andcaused extensive damage to thebuilding.

Monday 24th April 1972Lunch time attackAround lunch time a gunman firedat the Henry Taggart Army-RUCpost. Fire was returned and troopsbelieve they may have hit the gun-man.

Monday 24th April 1972Army post comes under fireA shot has been fired from a pass-ing car in the Oldpark area of Bel-fast. It was aimed at the Army postin Finiston School. Soldiers re-turned fire striking the car whichwas later found abandoned inArdilea Street.

Monday 24th April 1972Attack at Timber yardA blast bomb has been thrown intoan abandoned army post at a tim-ber yard on the Springfield Road.Shots were also fired at the post butno one was injured.

Monday 24th April 1972Tartan gang attackAfter being called to deal with a fireat Wilson’s pub on the Castlereagh


ABOVE - Bomb damage to the GrandOpera House after a bomb attack onnearby buildings

Road, the RUC came under attackfrom Tartan gangs and were stoned.

Monday 24th April 1972Pub bombedA public house in the Markets areahas been damaged when a blastbomb was thrown at it. But dam-age to Mooney’s Bar in CromacStreet was mainly confined to bro-ken windows.

Monday 24th April 197217-year-old youth shot in BelfastA 17-year-old youth has been hit bya burst of automatic fire as he waswalking along the SpringfieldRoad. The shots were fired from acar parked near Mayo Street. Theyouth was hit twice in the leg butwas not seriously injured.

Monday 24th April 1972Rubber bullets fired in ArdoyneRubber bullets have been used todisperse crowds of youths in theArdoyne and Divis areas.

Monday 24th April 1972Shots in ArdoyneIt has been reported that a numberof shots have been fired in theArdoyne and Oldpark areas of Bel-fast in incidents that did not involvethe security forces.

Monday 24th April 1972Blast bombs discoveredThree blast bombs have been dis-covered under the floorboards of avacant house in Bryson Street inEast Belfast.

Monday 24th April 1972UDR men injured in attackFive UDR men have been slightlyinjured when seven claymores ex-ploded on a shooting range atGortin Glen. The mines explodedas the men were returning to theirtransport after a day on the ranges.

Monday 24th April 1972Gun attack at CastledergMembers of the UDR at Castlederghave claimed to have shot two gun-men who fired 60 shots at their pa-trol from across the border. Noneof the part time soldiers were in-jured.


LEFT AND FACING PAGE - Clear-ing up after a bomb attack in KingStreet.

Monday 24th April 1972Dungannon bomb attackSeveral buildings have been dam-aged after a 75lb car bomb explodedin Scotch Street on Saturday night.The area had been evacuated aftera telephone warning and no one wasinjured.

Monday 24th April 1972Derry attacksIn Derry a soldier on patrol inWilliam Street was has beenwounded in the leg when a gunmanopened fire from the direction ofLower Road and during the after-noon troops used rubber bullets to

disperse stone throwing youths inthe Waterside during clashes be-tween Catholics and Protestantsfrom neighbouring estates.30 shots were also heard nearCreggan Bridge, 26 shots wereheard around Brandywell cottages.Shots were also heard on Brandwelland Creggan estates. An Army postin the city walls has come under firefrom a gunman in the vicinity of St.Eugene’s school. Three time troopsopened fire on a gunman in theBogside but no hits were claimedand at Bligh’s Lane post water can-non and rubber bullets were usedto disperse stone throwing youths.

Monday 24th April 1972Youth charged with rifleAn 18-year-old youth from the NewLodge area of Belfast has beencharged with possession of a rifleand loaded magazine at Unity Walk.A Republican Club convention inBelfast has passed a resolution con-demning the bombing of non mili-tary targets and Official Sinn FeinPresident Tomas MacGiolla saidthat the campaign was almost ex-clusively against Protestant targets.Banned under the Special PowersAct, the Republican Club move-ment held a conference at DivisStreet but security forces did notinterfere. About 300 delegates arereported to have attended.

Monday 24th April 1972Gunman injured in bomb attackOne of the gunmen involved in the


overnight bombing and shooting ata supermarket in Lisglynn, six milesfrom Armagh, was injured in theblast. It is reported that the man,who with other gunmen made hisgetaway across the border by car,was injured by flying glass. Thebombing is believed to have beencarrier out as part of the OfficialIRA’s campaign to stop some crossborder trade.

Monday 24th April 1972Buses back on FallsBelfast Corporation buses are run-ning again on the Falls and GlenRoads for the first time in more than

a week. But services are still offthe Whiterock, Turf Lodge,Ardoyne and West Circular routes.The Falls service is running viaGrosvenor Road but a transport de-partment spokesman said that serv-ices may be restored later via DivisStreet.

Monday 24th April 1972New troops for BelfastMen of the 1st Battalion the KingsRegiment will take over from theKings Own Scottish Borderers inWest Belfast on Tuesday. This willbe their second tour of duty here.They were on duty on the ShankillRoad for their last tour.

Monday 24th April 1972DUP man takes Council seatA Democratic Unionist candidatehad an unopposed return for theSmithfield vacancy on Belfast Citycouncil caused by the expulsion ofRepublican Labour, CouncillorJames O’Kane.

Monday 24th April 1972Attack on B-Special’s homeA high velocity shot has been firedinto the home of a former USC manin Barrack Hill, Armagh. The bul-let went through the walls of thehouse but no one was injured.

Monday 24th April 1972Police investigation into shootingA police investigation into the deathof 72-year-old Joseph Leitch atCullybackey, County Antrim hasbeen unable to establish a motive.Mr. Leitch was found dead in hisown home. He had been shot threetimes in the stomach.

Monday 24th April 1972Inquest into youth’s deathThe resumed inquest into the deathof 16-year-old Martin McShanewho was shot by troops in theGaelic Park in Coalisland on the14th December. Earlier in the in-quest Marine ‘B’ had described howMcShane had vaulted over thefence, however, a member of theRUC gave evidence that it wouldhave been impossible for anyone tovault the wire by putting his handson the post or fence. The constablesaid that he examined the fencefrom the pillars to the hole in a fenceand found it to vary between 6ft 6inand 7ft


Tuesday 25th April 1972Soldier killed on his last dayScottish soldier Joseph Gold hasdied in hospital on what was to bethe last day of his tour of duty inthe North. The 29-year-old diedfrom gunshot wounds receivedwhen a sniper opened fire on hispatrol on Friday night.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Shots fired in AndersonstownThree shots have been fired at amobile patrol of the 2nd Field Regi-ment, Royal Artillery, in BingnianDrive but there were no casualties.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Soldiers find bombsTroops carrying a search of a housein the Markets area of Belfast havediscovered three blast bombs and aquantity of explosive materials. Aswell as the bombs the soldiers foundseveral detonators, home made ex-plosives, a timing device, a batteryand some chemicals in the houseKeegan Street.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Parcel bomb explodesFire has gutted a large warehousenear the peace-line after a parcelbomb exploded without warning.The parcel containing the bomb wasdelivered shortly before noon atHarold Mitchell’s pharmaceuticaland photographic warehouse inNorthumberland Street. After sign-ing for it, an invoice clerk becamesuspicious and opened the package.On discovering the bomb he raisedthe alarm and the building wasevacuated.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Internees awarded damagesAgreed damages totalling £3,900have been awarded to 9 interneesand 7 former internees. The mensued the Ministry of Defence, theMinistry of Home Affairs, the Po-lice Authority and the Chief Con-stable of the RUC for damages al-leging unlawful physical assaultcausing mental and physical suffer-ing and degradation at Armagh andBallykinlar in August.

Tuesday 25th April 1972UDR man’s weapon stolenThe RUC in Belfast are looking fortwo gunmen who beat up a UDRman in his home and stole his re-volver. The UDR man receivedhead injuries during the attackwhich took place in his home aBoyne Square, off Sandy Row.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Bomb in pramA bomb weighing between 100 and200lb has been discovered in a pramwhich was left outside Belfast’sTelephone House in the Marketsarea. A doorman alerted soldiers ina passing armoured personnel car-rier and the alarm was raised. Thedriver of the military vehiclemounted the pavement and used thevehicle to push the pram away fromthe building and towards CromacSquare. The pram was pushed 30yards before he reversed and droveback to the building. When thebomb suddenly exploded it causedextensive damage to surroundingbuildings and scattered debris overa wide area. The blast blew a ten

foot crater in the roadway and twosoldiers and two civilians were in-jured, none seriously.While troops were still at the sceneof the blast, a gunman opened firewith a rifle. He fired twice, forcingfiremen, police and troops to run forcover. Soldiers returned fire but didnot claim a hit.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Gun attacks in AndersonstownTroops have come under fire atSawel Hill in the Andersonstownarea of Belfast and a gunmanopened fire on a UDR man man-ning a checkpoint at Blacks Road.No one injured in either attack.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Motorway attackFour shots were fired across the M1towards Tate’s Avenue by a gunmanoperating from Rodney Parade. Noone was injured.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Landmine explodes in DerryA landmine has exploded as twoArmy vehicles were travellingalong Foyle Road. One vehicle isthought to have triggered off the 10to 20lb device as it passed over apressure point. About the same timea gunman in Ferguson Street firedthree shots at the patrol but no onewas injured.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Bus hi-jackedUlsterbus has announced the with-drawal of services to Gobnascaleuntil further notice after a bus washijacked by three gunmen.


Tuesday 25th April 1972Bomb defused at RUC barracksFamilies living near RosemountRUC barracks have been evacuatedfrom their homes after a 20lb bombwas planted close to the stationwall. An anonymous telephonecaller told a newspaper office thatthe bomb would go off at 11.00 pmand an Army expert worked on itfor four hours before it was safelydefused.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Shots fired in DerryTwenty shots have been firedDerryview Terrace in the Watersidearea of Derry at troops onCraigavon Bridge. Troops returnedfire but no one was injured. Earlierin the evening 15 shots were firedat the Brandywell post but no onewas injured.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Car bomb explodes in CookstownA bomb estimated to be between 30and 50lbs has exploded in a car atthe front entrance to the BaptistChurch at Burn Road. The blastblew in the door and lifted part ofthe roof off and shattered most ofthe windows in the building. Theoffices of the Daintifyt factory onthe opposite side of the road werealso damaged. Windows in nearbyhomes and the British Legion Hallwere broken.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Castlederg gun attackSoldiers and RUC personnel havecome under a fierce hail of fire fromthree gunmen on the Tyrone-Don-egal border. More than 100 shots

are thought to have been fired bythe snipers who were hiding amongbushes. The battle raged for morethan half an hour before the gun-men withdrew. The security forcesfound themselves pinned down buteventually managed to return fire.No one was reported hit in the ex-change.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Red cross visit Long KeshReporting on their second visit toLong Kesh internment camp, anInternational Red Cross team saysthat it found the atmosphere andmorale of the internees had suffereda grave deterioration. The visit wasin December and the two Swiss RedCross delegates say that since thefirst inspection of the camp in Oc-tober there was no improvement ofany kind in dealing with overcrowd-ing. “Its evil effects have only beenaggravated” their report says.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Sinn Fein launches anti-EECdriveThe Provisional wing of Sinn Feinhas launched its anti-EEC campaignat a press conference in Dublin. Mr.David O’Connell, director of thecampaign, said the RepublicanMovement was unequivocally op-posed to joining the Common Mar-ket.

Tuesday 25th April 1972No power cuts in “No-go” areasMr. David Howell, the Under Sec-retary for Northern Ireland, in acommons written reply to a ques-

tion, told Parliament “Electricityundertakings are required by law tomaintain a supply of electricity toconsumers unless charges have notbeen paid or an interruption of sup-ply is necessary for technical rea-sons.” He stated that he would notrequire the cessation of electricitysupplies to those parts of London-derry where the population were notco-operating with the authorities.

Tuesday 25th April 1972Canal bomb attackThe lock gates on Newry canal havebeen damaged by a blast. After theattack the lock master’s wife andchild were taken across the borderby the raiders.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Sniper attack in DerrySoldiers in an observation post inDerry have fired on a gunman seengetting into a car in William Street.An Army spokesman said that theywere claiming a possible hit. Ear-lier two high velocity shots werefired at the Brandywell post butthere were no casualties.

Wednesday 26th April 1972BBC asked not to broadcastDevlin interviewMrs Mary Whitehouse, secretary ofthe National Viewers and ListenersAssociation has called on the BBCnot to broadcast interviews withMiss Bernadette Devin on a reli-gious affairs programme. She saidthat “it is not part of the publicbroadcasting service to accommo-


A girl is taken to an ambulance afterbeing injured in a bomb attack in

Belfast city centre


An army saracen lies overturned in a fieldafter an IRA landmine attack in Co. Tyrone


date people who are given to revo-lution by violence if necessary.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Dispute over UDR man’s deathSecurity chiefs have rejected theIRA’s version of events surround-ing the killing of UDR man JamesElliott. The IRA has stated that hisbody was not booby-trapped andthat although there were mines inthe vicinity the nearest one was over200ft away. They also stated thathe was shot in a struggle duringwhich he pulled a revolver on hiscaptors. An RUC spokesman hassaid that he was executed two hours

before his body was found and a dayand a half after he was captured andthat they had medical evidence toprove that he was not killed duringa struggle.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Rubber bullet victim buriedAbout 300 people have attended thefuneral of 11-year-old FrancisRowntree who was killed during ariot in Belfast. The boy’s family arecertain that he was killed by a rub-ber bullet. Since his death therehave also been claims that the rub-ber bullet had been “doctored.”This has been denied by the Army.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Eight wounded in gun attacksSix soldiers and two civilians havebeen shot and wounded in Derryand Belfast. Two of the soldiers andone man are seriously ill inAltnagelvin Hospital in Derry. Inone attack, which was carried outby the Provisional IRA, a sniperfired a single shot at a soldier at thejunction of William Street and Wa-terloo Place striking him in thechest. The bullet passed through hisbody and struck a middle aged manwho was passing by.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Youth shot in BelfastA 19-year-old Protestant youth whowas walking along the CrumlinRoad has been shot after he wasapproached by a man and girl. Hewas asked by the man “Are youfrom the Shankill Road?” When hesaid yes the man produced a pistolfrom his pocket and fired at him butnothing happened. The youth strug-gled with his attackers and was shotin the neck. He is said to be seri-ously ill but not in danger.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Sniper attacks in BelfastSnipers have launched a series ofattacks on troops in the Falls-Gosvenor Road area. One shotfired by a gunman from GranvilleStreet struck a soldier of the 3rd

Battalion, the Anglican Regimentbut he sustained only a minor fleshwound. Another soldier from thesame unit was hit in the side by agunman who opened fire fromBurnaby Street. He was rushed tohospital but is not seriously injured.


RIGHT - Firemen fight a blaze at aprinters shop in Northumberland Streetafter a firebomb attack

A third member of the battalion wasshot at the junction of the FallsRoad and Spinner Street. He toowas not seriously hurt. The sniperis thought to have fired from LowerClonard Street.Two soldiers were shot at an Armyobservation post at Norfolk Parade.Two gunmen fired 20 shots at thepost. Neither of the soldiers areseriously injured.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Smithfield bomb defusedArmy experts have defused two40lb bombs in a day long drama atSmithfield bus station. The bombswere left as parcels on a lorry whichwas parked in West Street. The de-

pot and surrounding area wasevacuated, causing widespreadtraffic disruption.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Pipe bombs thrown into houseTwo houses in the Markets areahave been damaged when a pipebomb was into an empty house inLindsay Street. A youth was seenrunning away. No one was injuredin the attack.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Claymore mine explodesA claymore mine has been deto-nated near an Army mobile patrolas it passed the junction of RodneyParade and Donegal Road. The

blast was heard over a wide area ofthe city but caused no damage orinjury.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Petrol bombs thrownFour petrol bombs have beenthrown at a house at Clara Park butthere was no damage.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Shotgun foundTroops have found a doubled bar-rel shotgun during a routine searchin Andersonstown.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Arson attackThe RUC are treating an overnightfire at a ladies hairdressing salon onthe Shore Road as malicious.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Petrol station bombedThe Melmont Service Station inStrabane has been severely dam-aged by a bomb. There were nocasualties. The bomb, believed tocontain between 20 and 50lb of ex-plosives was placed in a toilet at therear. Three cars parked next to thebuilding were also wrecked.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Rifles found in NewtownabbeySoldiers have found two .22 riflesburied in an embankment near anold peoples home inNewtownabbey. A quantity of .22ammunition was also found.


Wednesday 26th April 1972Explosion in quarryA site office at a quarry at Loughgalhas been damaged by an explosionbut security forces are waiting un-til daylight before they examine thescene.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Gun attack on SoldiersTwelve shots have been fired at amobile patrol of the Devon andDorset Regiment at Millyleggan,Blackwaterstown, but there were nocasualties.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Whitelaw ready to lift banThe lifting of the parades ban by the

Secretary of State, Mr WilliamWhitelaw, is now regarded as im-minent. While the total ban will beremoved, the Public Orders Act inrelation to marches will continue.

Wednesday 26th April 1972Bullet proof beds for troopsSoldiers in Belfast are to be pro-vided with more armoured support– in the form of bullet-proof beds.The idea for the beds came from the34th Field Squadron, Royal Engi-neers. Said an Army spokesman“one of our units is housed in anold Mill and it is a common occur-rence for snipers bullets to enter onewall and go out another. Thereforein order to give the troops more pro-

tection. The beds are under con-struction and will soon be available.

Thursday 27th April 197222 internees freedAnother 22 internees held under theSpecial Powers Act have been freedfrom Long Kesh. This brings thetotal number of internees to be re-leased since the introduction of Di-rect Rule to 165.

Thursday 27th April 1972Troops cut by 600Six hundred men of the 3rd Regi-ment, Royal Horse Artillery haveleft the North but they are not be-ing replaced. This brings the


FACING PAGE - An armouredpersonnel moving into Divis StreetRIGHT - Bomb attack on the warehouseof Harold Mitchell Ltd, West Belfast

number of troops serving here to13,900 but more men may bebrought in for the 12th July.

Thursday 27th April 1972Lynch refuses aidThe Irish Government has had sec-ond thoughts about providingmoney for opposition parties in theNorth. Last year Mr Lynch an-nounced that his government wouldmake money available to opposi-tion groups in the north to mount apassive resistance campaign. Amember of the Fine Gael has saidthe reason the money would not beprovided was because Mr. Lynchhad gotten his knuckles raped by theBritish Government.

Thursday 27th April 1972Peace activists visit Long KeshA former minister in the IndianGovernment, Mr. Krishna Menonand other world peace activists havevisited internees in Long Kesh.Speaking after the visit he said thathe felt internees should be eithertried or released.

Thursday 27th April 1972Soldier killed near ArmaghOne soldier has died and two oth-ers were injured when an Armybreakdown truck left the road andoverturned near Armagh. It is stillnot clear how the accident hap-pened. Army witnesses have re-ported that the vehicle swerved toavoid youths who were throwing

stones but local people say that nostones were thrown.

Thursday 27th April 1972UDR man’s home attackedIn Armagh five or six shots havebeen fired at the Barrack Hill homeof a UDR man. No one was injuredand it is believed that the UDR manreturned fire.

Thursday 27th April 1972Bomb explodes in DerryA 2lb bomb was placed in the fronthall of Claremont PresbyterianChurch Hall at Eden Terrace. Thedoors, floor ceiling and windows ofthe building were damaged in theattack.

Thursday 27th April 1972Gunmen may have been shotThe Army think they hit two gun-men in Derry overnight. Shortlyafter 7.00 pm a gunman fired oneshot at the Bligh’s Lane post. Thesoldiers returned fire and claim theman was hit. Later an ambulancewas seen in the area. After a sec-ond attack an Army spokesman said

troops fired on a gunman in Lundy’sLane, which is off Lecky Road.

Thursday 27th April 1972Army post attackedThe Army post in Brandywell hascome under fire on several occa-sions. About a dozen shots weredirected at the post in two separateattacks but there were no casualties.

Thursday 27th April 1972Nail bombs thrown in DerryThree nail bombs have been thrownat Rosemount RUC barracks inDerry but there was no damage andno one was injured in the attack.

Thursday 27th April 1972Sniper attack on Army postThe Brandywell Army post cameunder sniper attack at around 7.30in the morning. Three shots werefired by a gunman from the citycemetery but there were no casual-ties and fire was not returned.

Thursday 27th April 1972Rifles found in AndersonstownSoldiers in Belfast have recoveredthree IRA weapons on Wednesday.


One of the weapons had been shotfrom a gunman’s hands during arunning battle in Andersonstown.The incident in Slemish Way beganwhen five shots were fired at a two-vehicle Land Rover patrol. Thegunman made off in a car towardsSouth Link and a Land Rover gavechase. The car did a U-turn in aneffort to escape and met the secondLand Rover. Three men jumped outand fired a shot from an Armaliterifle. Soldiers returned fire and therifle was shot from the man’s hands.The other two men dropped theirweapons and ran off upCommedagh Drive and escaped.The Army later said that they hadrecovered a Japanese Armalite ri-fle and 12 rounds, a Sten gun and40 rounds and a Lugar type pistoland six rounds.

Thursday 27th April 1972Soldier wounded in BelfastA soldier has been slightly injuredin the hip when six gunmen am-bushed a patrol at the corner ofShaw’s Road and Glen Road. Firewas returned but no hits were re-ported.

Thursday 27th April 1972Pipe bomb thrown at wine shopA Pipe bomb has been thrown intoKelly’s wine shop on theBeersbridge Road. Damage wasdone to a rear door and windowswere broken.

Thursday 27th April 1972Electricity transformer bombedAn explosion has badly damagedtwo electricity poles, a transformer

and a fuse box in Bessbrook. Theblast also damaged six houses andtwo business premises. No one wasinjured.

Thursday 27th April 1972Bessbrook RUC base attackedShots were also fired at the localRUC barracks in Bessbrook. Firewas returned and one gunman mayhave been hit.

Thursday 27th April 1972Explosion in KillyleaghAn explosion has damaged a watermain just north of Killyleagh.

Thursday 27th April 1972Incendiary attackThe Crown Buildings, NewryStreet, Kilkeel, has been slightlydamaged in an incendiary attack.

Thursday 27th April 1972IRA leader faces jailThe Chief of Staff of the IRA, Mr.Sean MacStiofain, is not expectedto pay the £20 fine imposed on himat Navan Court for possessing abullet. A leading member of theorganisation has confirmed that ifhe did pay the fine this would betantamount to recognising the courtand he would be expelled from theIRA. This has already happened inthe case of Anthony “Dutch”Doherty, who was expelled when heaccepted bail on arms charges.

Thursday 27th April 1972Bomb experts blow up carAn Army bomb expert has fired ananti-tank shell into a suspicious car

which was parked inside the con-trolled parking zone in Omagh. Thecar which had been parked near theTownhall, burst into flames andburned out, but no bomb was found.

Thursday 27th April 1972Swedish work permit for deserterA British Army deserter who soughtasylum in Sweden because he didnot want to serve in Ireland has beengranted residential and work per-mits “for humanitarian reasons.”Lance Corporal Kevin Cadwalladerfrom Preston is the first British de-serter to seek asylum in Stockholm.

Thursday 27th April 1972“Shoot IRA men” KilfedderMr. Jim Kilfedder, MP, for NorthDown, has said in London that hebelieved that if the Army were tak-ing photographs of masked, armedmen manning the barricades inDerry, then they should challengethem to surrender and if necessaryshot them. Mr. Kilfedder said thathe did not believe the Army shouldshoot to kill but only wound.

Thursday 27th April 1972Border attackTwelve shots have been fired at anArmy patrol at Narrow Water fromthe southern side of the border. Noone has been hurt.

Friday 28th April 1972Car bombs hit Belfast and NewryTwo car bombs have caused severedamage and a number of injuries inBelfast city centre and Newry.In the Belfast incident at KingStreet, off Smithfield, no warning


was given but the security forceshad cleared the area after spottinga stolen van. The van, which hadbeen parked outside Clokey’s paintshop, disintegrated in the blast anddamaged several shops.The Newry car bomb exploded inthe busy Kildare Street shoppingcentre caused damage to severalbuildings including the Town halland Hale’s bar. An RUC man wasinjured by the blast. A number ofcivilians were also treated in hos-pital for shock and minor injuries.

Friday 28th April 1972Peace march to IRA HQsHousewives in Derry’s Bogside areto stage a march for peace on Sun-

day next from “Free Derry Corner”to the headquarters of both the Of-ficial and Provisional IRA. And inthe “no go” area they will tell themthat the bombings and shootingsmust stop.

Friday 28th April 1972Protestants in RUC protestAbout 100 angry Protestants havedemonstrated outside WillowfieldRUC barracks in Belfast againstalleged RUC brutality in the areaon Thursday night. Many of theprotestors carried Union flags andplacards which read “ProtestantsBetrayed” and “RUC SS.”

Friday 28th April 1972

Youths shot in East BelfastGunmen have shot and seriouslywounded two Protestant youthsduring the night. The youths, aged12 and 18, from Mayo Street andHighcairn Drive, were shot by agunman who opened up from amoving car near the March Street-Ainsworth Avenue. The schoolboywas hit in the groin and another shotstruck his friend’s right kidney.They were both rushed to Hospital.

Friday 28th April 1972RUC men in clash with TartangangThree RUC men have been injuredduring intermittent clashes withcrowds, including Tartan gangs in

An army riot squad on theNew Lodge Road


the Woodstock area. An RUC ser-geant had to receive five stitchesafter he was struck by a missile.

Friday 28th April 1972Rubber bullets fired at ChildrenRubber bullets have been fired achildren who threw stones at a mo-bile patrol in the StewartstownRoad area.

Friday 28th April 1972Springfield Road attacksA burst of automatic fire has beendirected at soldiers on duty at a tim-ber yard on Belfast’s SpringfieldRoad. There were no casualties.

Friday 28th April 1972Sniper attackA single shot has been directed bya sniper towards a mobile patrol inCavendish Street, Belfast but noone was injured in the attack.

Friday 28th April 1972Bombs in ClaudyTwo explosions, followed by a fire,have wrecked six buses parked inan open yard. RUC personnel whoarrived on the scene were stoned bylocal youths.

Friday 28th April 1972RUC patrol attacked inCastlederg30 shots have been fired at an RUCpatrol from across the border. Theattack occurred about seven milesoutside the town of Castlederg.There were no casualties and firewas not returned.

Friday 28th April 1972Gardai patrol fired onJust before midnight the Gardai inBallynafeigh reported that one oftheir units had been fired on fromthe Northern side of the border.They say the attackers were in thearea of Kilclaw customs post.

Friday 28th April 1972Troops return fire in Bligh’s LaneTroops at Bligh’s Lane Army postsay that they returned fire on gun-men on two separate occasions andthat they believe they may have hitone of them.

Friday 28th April 1972Showrooms damaged by bombThe interior of Frazer Mitchell’sauctioneer showrooms at CastleStreet Derry have been extensivelydamaged by a 5lb bomb which hadbeen planted by six men.

Friday 28th April 1972Scout cars attackedTwo 16/5 Lancers scout cars havebeen slightly damaged when a 25lbbooby-trap bomb exploded under-neath one of the vehicles while theywere on patrol. The Army say it

was detonated from around 200yards away.

Friday 28th April 1972Strabane bomb demolishes build-ingA bomb has almost demolished aMinistry of Agriculture building at

Melmont Road Strabane. The sizeof the bomb is estimated to bearound 20lb.Friday 28th April 1972Mystery explosion in CoalislandThe RUC are waiting until daylightbefore they are attempting to estab-lish the source of an explosionheard in the Brackaville area ofCoalisland.

Friday 28th April 1972Shots fired in OldparkSecurity forces have said that theshootings in the Bone area of thecity were directed at both the RUCand the Army and they have dis-counted a report in the Irish Inde-pendent that the UVF had carriedout a large scale attack on the iso-lated Catholic area. The spokesmanalso pointed out that 20 shots hadbeen fired from playing fields at

About 100 angry Protestants havedemonstrated outside Willowfield RUCbarracks in Belfast against alleged RUCbrutality in the area on Thursday night.Many of the protestors carried Unionflags and placards which read“Protestants Betrayed” and “RUC SS.”


Armoured Personnel Carriers on theOldpark Road. Two shots were alsofired at two RUC men on duty atLouisa Street.

Saturday 29th April 1972Vanguard rally held in LondonAbout 3,000 Ulster people are saidto have paraded through the centreof London on a march organised byUlster Vanguard to protest againstdirect rule. The parade stretched foralmost a mile as it left Speaker’sCorner to its destination on theEmbankment for a rally speech byMr. William Craig.

Saturday 29th April 1972Bangor factory bombedAn explosion in Bangor haswrecked part of an animal feed fac-tory and disrupted rail services fromBelfast. The Feedwell factory, nearBrunswick Road railway bridge hadbeen out of production after a firesome time ago.

Saturday 29th April 1972Bomb warning ignoredPortadown police have criticisedthe “down right stupid” reaction oflocal people to a recent bomb warn-ing that a bomb had been placed inthe town centre. The RUC andArmy had immediately sealed offthe Market Street/High Street areas.A loud hailer was used to warnshoppers to get off the streets andout of the danger area, but accord-ing to the RUC these plans wereignored by a large section of thegeneral public “who went about

their business seemingly uncaringif a bomb exploded near them.”

Saturday 29th April 1972Man found dead in SouthDetectives from Dublin Castle havebegun a full scale murder hunt af-ter the body of a partially crippledman was discovered on a lonely by-road about 14 miles from Drogheda.One theory being considered is thatthe man, aged between 30 and 40has been the victim of a politicalassassination. There was a hole inthe back of his head but it is notknown if this was caused by a bul-let or a sharp instrument.

Saturday 29th April 1972Trouble in East BelfastSoldiers and RUC personnel haverushed to East Belfast to deal witha new outbreak of trouble involv-ing local Tartan gangs. The RUCin the area radioed for reinforce-ments when the trouble began in theWoodstock Road-Short Strand area.

Saturday 29th April 1972Three men on arms chargesThree men have appeared in courtcharged with possessing three re-volvers and ammunition in the cityon Friday Night.

Saturday 29th April 1972Army claims to have shot snipersThe army in Derry say a gunmanfired two shots at them on the citywalls. They returned fire and be-lieve they may have hit him. In aseparate incident they came underfire at the Bligh’s Lane post fromthe direction of Beechwood Av-enue-Crescent junction. Shots were

returned but no hits were claimed.In Belfast troops fired back after agunman fired seven shots at a mo-bile patrol on the Glen Road. Thegunman is thought to have beenoperating from the direction of St.Teresa’s church hall. The man wasseen to fall. A follow up search wasmounted but no trace of the mancould be found. Two shots werealso fired at a sentry on duty at anelectricity sub-station but he wasnot hit.

Saturday 29th April 1972Sniper attack on checkpointFour shots have been fired at anArmy checkpoint at Cloughoe,Newry, from a nearby churchyard.Fire was returned but the soldiersdid not claim any hits.

Saturday 29th April 1972Peace march cancelledThe peace march which was due totake place in Derry on Sunday hasbeen cancelled in order to avoidpossible trouble on the streets.

Saturday 29th April 1972Army attacked in DerryMore than 30 shots have been firedat Bligh’s Lane Army post and sol-diers fired two shots in response.No one was injured in the attack.

Saturday 29th April 1972Youth shot in BelfastA 16-year-old youth has been ad-mitted to the Royal Victoria Hospi-tal with gunshot wounds to his thighand abdomen after a shooting inci-dent in Templemore Avenue. Hiscondition is not known.


THOSE WHO DIED

APOLOGYIn the last issue of the publica-tion we placed the wrong pictureof Albert Kavanagh under hislisting in the ‘Those who died’section. This is the picturewhich should have been along-side the text and apologise forthis mistake.

Samuel Hughes

Charles McChrystal

John McErlean

HENRY MILLARAGED 794th April 1972Mr Millar died afterbeing injured in thebomb blast inDonegall Street twoweeks previously. Hewas the seventh victimto die in this attack.

PETER DEACON SIMEAGED 227th April 1972Mr Sime was a soldierin the King’s OwnScottish Borderers. Hewas shot dead by anIRA sniper at the en-trance to the HenryTaggart base in WestBelfast.

SAMUEL HUGHESAGED 177th April 1972One of three membersof the IRA to be killedin a premature explo-sion in the BawnmoreEstate. It had explodedinside a garage and all

three were killed in-stantly.

CHARLES McCRYSTALAGED 187th April 1972A member of the IRAkilled alongsideSamuel Hughes. FromGreencastle, hisbrother had been killedby the UDA a fewmonths previously.

JOHN McERLEANAGED 177th April 1972The third member ofthe IRA to be killedin the Bawnmoreexplosion.

ERIC BLACKBURNAGED 2410th April 1972A soldier in the RoyalArtillery Regiment,Mr Blackburn waskilled alongside LanceBombardier BrianThomasson in a bombattack in the pavilionof a bowling green atBrooke Park in Derry.The troops were at-tempting to move chil-dren, who were throw-ing stones at them,away from the bombwhen it exploded.

BRIAN THOMASSONAGED 2110th April 1972Killed alongside EricBlackburn in the bombattack in Derry.

ELIZABETH McAULEYAGED 6513th April 1972Mrs McAuley waskilled after an IRAbomb exploded out-side her flat in MainStreet, Ballymoney.The bomb started a fireand the charred re-mains of her were dis-covered in the ruins ofthe building.

JOE McCANNAGED 2515th April 1972Mr McCann was shotdead by members ofthe Parachute Regi-ment in the Marketsarea of South Belfast.He had been a leadingmember of the OfficialIRA and was one oftheir most prominentactivist. At the inquestinto his death soldiersstated that they hadexpected his to be car-rying a weapon but hewas unarmed at thetime.

Joe McCann


SEAN McCONVILLEAGED 1715th April 1972Sean was walking upthe Crumlin Road inNorth Belfast with afriend when a carpulled up into a lay-byand called them over.One of the passengersasked directions andwhile doing so pro-duced gun and openedfire. Sean was hit byat least three bullets. Itis believed that theUDA were behind themurder.

MARTIN ROBINSONAGED 2116th April 1972A soldier in the Sher-wood Forester’s Regi-ment he was in an ob-servation post in an oldfilling station in theBrandywell area ofDerry when it cameunder attack by theOfficial IRA.

GERARD BRISTOWAGED 2616th April 1972A soldier in the RoyalWelsh Fusiliers, hewas shot dead by theOfficial IRA while onpatrol in Derry’sFerguson Street.

NICHOLAS HULLAGED 2216th April 1972A second lieutenant inthe Royal AnglicanRegiment he was shotdead by the OfficialIRA while on mobilepatrol in DurhamStreet in West Belfast.He had been directingthe removal of a barri-cade from inside anarmoured vehiclewhen a snipers bulletcame in through theobservation slit. It isbelieved the gunmanwas operating fromDivis Flats.

PATRICK MAGEEAGED 2017th April 1972Patrick was shot withanother man as theywere leaving StComgall’s School onthe Falls Road. Thepair, who were studentteachers, were shot bythe Parachute Regi-ment who opened firefrom Percy Street.Patrick received a

deep chest wound anddied while his friendwas badly injured.

PATRICK DONAGHYAGED 8617th April 1972One of the oldest vic-tims of the troubles,Mr Donaghy was shotdead through the win-dow of his flat whichwas on the eight floorof the Divis Tower inWest Belfast. Hishome help found himdead the followingday.At his inquest state-ments from the sol-diers involved wereread out. Theyclaimed that they hadseen gun smoke fromthe window and thatthey had all openedfire. However thecoroner said that anyfiring was unlikely tohave come from MrDonaghy as he hadonly one eye.

JAMES ELLIOTAGED 3619th April 1972A member of theUDR, James’s bodywas found on a borderroad nearNewtownhamilton af-ter he had been ab-ducted by the IRA.His body had been sur-rounded by Claymore

Sean McConville

mines and a huge500lb bomb.

MARTIN OWENSAGED 2219th April 1972Martin was killed afterbeing taken from hishome in theAndersonstown areaof West Belfast. Ashort time after beingtaken from his home,his body was thrownfrom a car and foundat Horn Drive in thenearby Suffolk area.He had been shot fivetimes at close range onthe head, chest andneck. On the sameevening his brotherhad also been ab-ducted from a republi-can club on the SuffolkRoad but later re-leased. It is believedthat the IRA were be-hind the killing.

GERALD DONNELLYAGED 2220th April 1972Mr Donnelly was oneof the taxi drivers atArkle Taxis in CliftonStreet. At around10.30pm two mencame in and asked fora taxi to take them tothe NationalistArdoyne area andGerald took them inhis taxi. A short timelater he was shot five


times in HarrybrookStreet by the gunmenwho had entered histaxi and who, it is be-lieved, were from theUDA.Later the same nighttwo youths survived amurder attempt in thesame area where MrDonnelly’s taxi depotwas situated. Theyhad been standing out-side a cafe in CarlisleCircus when twoarmed men ap-proached them and or-dered them into theLoyalist DenmarkStreet which runs ontoCarlisle Circus. Theywere then shot, one inthe mouth and theother in the arm.

FRANCIS ROWNTREEAGED 1122nd April 1972Francis was the firstperson to die after be-ing struck by a rubberbullet near the DivisFlats area of West Bel-fast. He had beenstruck two days previ-ously during rioting inthe area and sustainedmassive head injuries.A number of peopleclaimed that the rubberbullet had been tam-pered with and that abattery had been in-serted to make it moredangerous. Paddy

Devlin of the SDLPstated that the bullethad been cut in halfwith the torch batteryreplacing the missinghalf of the rubber bul-let. He added that theinjuries were consist-ent with being hit by ahard object and not arubber bullet.

JOSEPH GOLDAGED UNLISTED

26th April 1972A soldier in the KingsOwn Scottish Border-ers, he had been in-jured five days earlierduring an IRA gun at-tack on a military pa-trol on the DonegallRoad. He had beenmarried with two chil-dren and his tour onduty in Northern Ire-land was to have endedon the day he died.

LAURENCE JUBBAGED 2226th April 1972A soldier in the RoyalEngineers, he waskilled when the recov-ery lorry he was driv-ing was stoned on theKillylea Road near Ar-magh City. The lorryjack-knifed after it lostcontrol and overturnedtrapping three soldiersinside. Local peopleattempted to help res-

cue the trapped sol-diers and one localnurse, whose husbandwas in Long Kesh atthe time, helped givefirst aid. Laurence hadbeen crushed.

ROSALEEN GAVINAGED 829th April 1972From Ardilea Street inthe Bone district ofNorth Belfast, she wasshot on the OldparkRoad by a sniper aim-

ing a soldiers. Twosoldiers, who were inan observation post,told the inquest thatthey heard a shot firedat them followed byfour shots shortly af-terwards. They saidthat after the shootingthey heard screamingand saw the body of achild being placed inan ambulance. A manwas wounded in theleg during the sameincident.

A young boy is rushed to a first aid post afterbeing struck on the face by an army rubberbullet. Although designed to control rioters byadministering a sharp blow, the rubber bulletcould do more permanent damage to the very young, frail or old. Francis Rowntree was the first to be killed by a rubber bullet.


ISSUE 2Covering the period January - June 1970

ISSUE 3Covering the period July - December 1970

ISSUE 4Covering the period January - April 1971

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ISSUE 1Covering the period from Partition to 1969

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ISSUE 6Covering the period August 1971 (Internment)

ISSUE 7Covering the period September - October 1971

ISSUE 5Covering the period May - July 1971

ISSUE 8Covering the period November - December 1971

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ISSUE 9Covering the period January 1972

ISSUE 10Covering the period February 1972

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ISSUE 11Covering the period March 1972

ISSUE 12Covering the period April 1972

Documents

The Troubles 12