Kingsmill massacre
Encyclopedia
The Kingsmill massacre took place on 5 January 1976 near the village of Kingsmill in south County Armagh
, Northern Ireland
. Ten Protestant
men were taken from a minibus
and shot dead by a group calling itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force
. The group claimed that the attack was in revenge for the killing of six Catholics the night before
.
A Historical Enquiries Team
investigation into the incident found that members of the Provisional IRA
had carried out the attack despite the organization being on ceasefire. It also found that the victims were targeted simply because of their religion.
The report said that the attack had been planned some time in advance and the weapons used in another 110 murders or attempted murders.
", in Northern Ireland in general and in southern County Armagh
in particular. The Provisional IRA —although officially on ceasefire from February 1975 to January 1976—killed 326 people, 90 of whom were Protestant
civilians. In 1974–76, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed 250 people, mostly Catholic
civilians.
Between 1 August 1975 and 4 January 1976, loyalist paramilitaries killed 17 Catholic civilians in County Armagh and County Louth
. In that same period, republican paramilitaries killed 10 Protestant civilians in County Armagh and nine soldiers.
The 2011 inquiry into the Kingsmill attack found that while it was in “direct response” to the Reavey and O'Dowd killings, the attack was pre-planned. “The murderous attacks on the Reavey and O’Dowd families were simply the catalyst for the premeditated and calculated slaughter of these innocent and defenceless men".
minibus
was carrying sixteen textile workers home from work in Glenanne to Bessbrook
. Five were Catholics and eleven were Protestants. Four of the Catholics got out at Whitecross, while the remainder continued on the road to Bessbrook. As the bus cleared the rise of a hill, it was stopped by a man standing on the road and flashing a torch. As it stopped, eleven masked gunmen emerged from the hedges and a man "with a pronounced English accent" began talking. At first, the workers assumed that they were being stopped and searched by a British Army or RUC checkpoint, and when ordered to line up beside the bus, they obeyed. At this point the lead gunman ordered the only Catholic, Richard Hughes, to step forward. Hughes' workmates—thinking that the armed men were loyalists who had come to kill him—tried to stop him from identifying himself. However, when Hughes stepped forward the gunman told him to "Get down the road and don't look back".
The remaining eleven men were shot with AR-18
and L1A1 SLR rifles, a 9mm pistol
, and an M1 carbine
. A total of 136 rounds were fired in less than a minute. Ten of them were killed outright and one, Alan Black, survived despite having eighteen gunshot wounds.
Hughes managed to stop a car and hitched a lift to Bessbrook RUC station, where he raised the alarm. Meanwhile, a man and his wife had come upon the scene of the killings and had begun praying beside the victims. They found Alan Black, who was lying in a ditch and badly wounded. When an ambulance arrived, Black was taken to hospital in Newry
, where he was operated on and survived. A police officer said that the road was "an indescribable scene of carnage".
Nine of the dead, the textile workers, were from the village of Bessbrook, while the bus driver was from nearby Mountnorris
. Four of the men were members of the Orange Order.
. He said that it was retaliation for the Reavey and O’Dowd killings of the night before, and that there would be "no further action on our part" if loyalists stopped their attacks. He added that the group had no connection with the IRA.
A 2011 report by the Historical Inquiries Team found that the Provisional IRA was responsible for the killings. The inquiry team dismissed the claim at the time that the murders were the work of the South Armagh Republican Action Force. It said such was the widespread revulsion that the IRA attempted to distance itself from the attack by using this cover-name. It added: “There is some intelligence that the Provisional IRA unit responsible was not well-disposed towards central co-ordination but there is no excuse in that. These dreadful murders were carried out by the Provisional IRA and none other.
According to the account of journalist Toby Harnden, the British military intelligence assessment at the time was that the attack was carried out by local IRA members "who were acting outside of the normal IRA command structure". He also quoted an alleged South Armagh
IRA member, Volunteer M, who said that "IRA members were ordered by their leaders to carry out the Kingsmill massacre". Furthermore, Harnden reported a contradictory RUC allegation that the attack was planned, and that future Real IRA
leader Michael McKevitt
was among the IRA members who planned it (at the nearby Road House pub on New Year's Eve) and took part.
It was alleged by Harnden that IRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey
, on the suggestion of Brian Keenan
, ordered that there had to be a disproportionate retaliation against Protestants in order to stop Catholics being killed by loyalists. According to IRA informer Sean O'Callaghan
, "Keenan believed that the only way to put the nonsense out of the Prods [Protestants], was to hit back much harder and more savagely than them". However, O'Callaghan reports that Twomey and Keenan did not consult the IRA Army Council
before sanctioning the Kingsmill attack. This version of events is disputed by republican leader Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
, who claims that he and Twomey only learned of the Kingsmill attack after it had taken place.
The IRA at the time denied responsibility for the killings. It stated on 17 January 1976:
Two AR-18 rifles used in the shooting were found by the British Army in 1990 in a wall near Cullyhanna
and forensically tested. It was reported that the rifles were linked to 17 killings in the South Armagh area from 1974 to 1990. Further ballistic studies found that guns used in the attack were linked to 37 murders, 22 attempted murders, 19 non-fatal shootings and 11 finds of spent cartridges between 1974 and 1989.
In 1999 Ian Paisley
, quoting what he said was an RUC dossier, claimed that one of the Reavey brothers (who were killed by the UVF the day before) participated in the Kingsmill attack (see below).
activist Willie Frazer
of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
(FAIR), this was as a result of deal between the local UVF and IRA groups.
Two days after the massacre, Prime Minister Harold Wilson
announced that the Special Air Service
(SAS) was being moved into the South Armagh area. This was the first time that SAS presence in Northern Ireland was officially acknowledged. However, according to historian Richard English
, "It seems clear that the SAS had been in the north well before this. According to the Provisionals since 1971; according to a former SAS soldier they had been there even earlier". Units and personnel under SAS control are alleged to have been involved in loyalist attacks. Author Toby Harnden
places regiment's B squadron in Belfast as early as 1974.
" had planned to kill at least 30 Catholic school children as retaliation. This gang had been involved in the Reavey–O'Dowd killings and it included members of the RUC's Special Patrol Group
and the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment
. Following the Kingsmill shootings, the gang drew-up plans to attack St Lawrence O'Toole Primary School in the South Armagh village of Belleeks. The plan was aborted at the last minute on orders of the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership), who ruled that it would be "morally unacceptable", would undermine support for the UVF, and could lead to civil war. One Glenanne gang member said that the UVF leadership also feared the potential IRA response. The gang member who suggested the attack was a UDR soldier. The leadership allegedly suspected that he was working for British Military Intelligence, and that Military Intelligence were seeking to provoke a civil war.
Another UVF gang, the "Shankill Butchers
", also planned retaliation for the massacre. This gang operated in Belfast
and was notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture
and murder (by throat slashing) of random Catholic civilians. Within a week of the massacre, it had laid the groundwork for an attack on a lorry that ferried Catholic workmen to Corry's Timber Yard in West Belfast. The plan was to shoot all of those on board. However, the plan was abandoned after the workers changed their route and transport.
Some loyalists claim the Kingsmill massacre is the reason they joined paramilitary groups. One was Billy Wright
, who said:
"retired" in the early 1990s; Wright later founded the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force
(LVF) in 1996. He was suspected of at least 20 sectarian killings of Catholics in the 1980s and 1990s.
Another with similar claims was RUC Special Patrol Group
officer Billy McCaughey
, who was one of the RUC officers present at the aftermath of the massacre. He told Toby Harnden, "the sides of the road were running red with blood and it was the blood of totally innocent Protestants". Afterwards, McCaughey says that he began passing RUC intelligence to the UVF and Ulster Defence Association
(UDA) and also to participate in their operations. McCaughey was convicted in 1980 of one sectarian killing, the kidnapping of a Catholic priest, and one failed bombing. However, McCaughey had colluded with loyalists before the Kingsmill attack, and later admitted to taking part in the Reavey killings the day before – he claimed he "was at the house but fired no shots". McCaughey also gave his view on how the massacre affected loyalists:
No one was ever charged in relation to the Kingsmill massacre. In August 2003, there were calls for the Police Service of Northern Ireland
to reopen the files relating to the massacre.
at the time was mixed. It was allegedly ordered by elements of the IRA leadership (Seamus Twomey and Brian Keenan), but others, such as Gerry Adams
, were reported to be very unhappy about it. According to Sean O'Callaghan, Adams said in an Army Council meeting, "there'll never again be another Kingsmills".
IRA members in South Armagh, who talked to journalist and author Toby Harnden
in the late 1990s, generally condemned the massacre. One of them, Volunteer M, said it was "a gut reaction [to the killing of Catholics] and a wrong one. The worst time in my life was in jail after Kingsmill. It was a dishonourable time". Another, Volunteer G, said that he "never agreed with Kingsmills". Republican activist Peter John Caraher said that those ultimately responsible were "the loyalists who shot the Reavey brothers". He added, "It was sad that those people [at Kingsmills] had to die, but I'll tell you something, it stopped any more Catholics being killed". This view was reiterated by a County Tyrone republican and Gaelic Athletic Association
veteran who spoke to Ed Moloney
. "It's a lesson you learn quickly on the football
field... If you're fouled, you hit back", he said.
(DUP) leader Ian Paisley
stated in the House of Commons that Eugene Reavey took part in the massacre. Eugene Reavey's three brothers were killed by loyalists the day before
, although Paisley made no reference to those killings.
Eugene Reavey had "witnessed the immediate aftermath of the [Kingsmill] massacre, which took place near his home. He was driving to Newry and happened upon it. He and his family were on their way to Daisy Hill hospital to collect the bodies of two of his brothers, John (24) and Brian (22)." Eugene Reavey "was also going to visit his younger brother, Anthony, who had been badly injured in the attack. The bodies of the murdered workmen were being brought into the mortuary when he arrived. He went into the room where the shattered families were gathering, and wept with them. Alan Black [sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre] and Anthony Reavey shared a hospital room. Black lived whilst Reavey later died."
Paisley used parliamentary privilege
to name those he believed responsible, including Eugene Reavey, whom he accused of being "a well-known republican" who "set up the Kingsmills massacre". Paisley claimed to be quoting from a "police
dossier". Paisley's claims were rejected by the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre, Alan Black, and also by Reavey himself.
Susan McKay wrote in the Irish Times that Alan Black, on hearing Paisley's accusations,
's Historical Enquiries Team
apologised to the Reavey family for allegations that the three brothers killed in 1976 were IRA members or that Eugene Reavey had been involved in the Kingsmill attack. Despite this, the allegation continued to be promoted by Willie Frazer
of FAIR
. In May 2010, the HET released a report which exonerated the three Reavey brothers and their family of any links to paramilitarism. Eugene Reavey says he now wants an apology from Ian Paisley for the comments he made in 1999. Reavey is currently taking a related case to the European Court of Human Rights
.
The HET published its findings concerning Kingsmill in June 2011. Responding to the report, Sinn Féin
spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin said that he did "not dispute the sectarian nature of the killings" but continued to believe "the denials by the IRA that they were involved". On June 20 SDLP
Assemblyman Dominic Bradley
called on Sinn Féin to "publicly accept that the HET’s forensic evidence on the firearms used puts Provisional responsibility beyond question" and cease "deny[ing] that the Provisional IRA was in the business of organising sectarian killings on a large scale."
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Ten Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
men were taken from a minibus
Minibus
A minibus or minicoach is a passenger carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger carrying van. Minibuses have a...
and shot dead by a group calling itself the South Armagh Republican Action Force
South Armagh Republican Action Force
The South Armagh Republican Action Force was an alleged Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from 1975 to 1977 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Its area of activity was mainly the southern part of County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it...
. The group claimed that the attack was in revenge for the killing of six Catholics the night before
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings took place on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead five Catholic civilians – two from the Reavey family and three from the O'Dowd family – in two co-ordinated attacks....
.
A Historical Enquiries Team
Historical Enquiries Team
The Historical Enquiries Team is a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles ....
investigation into the incident found that members of the Provisional IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
had carried out the attack despite the organization being on ceasefire. It also found that the victims were targeted simply because of their religion.
The report said that the attack had been planned some time in advance and the weapons used in another 110 murders or attempted murders.
Background
The Kingsmill massacre was one of the worst incidents in a period of severe sectarian violence during "the TroublesThe Troubles
The Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast...
", in Northern Ireland in general and in southern County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...
in particular. The Provisional IRA —although officially on ceasefire from February 1975 to January 1976—killed 326 people, 90 of whom were Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
civilians. In 1974–76, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) killed 250 people, mostly Catholic
Irish Catholic
Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...
civilians.
Between 1 August 1975 and 4 January 1976, loyalist paramilitaries killed 17 Catholic civilians in County Armagh and County Louth
County Louth
County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...
. In that same period, republican paramilitaries killed 10 Protestant civilians in County Armagh and nine soldiers.
- The IRA killed nine British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
soldiers and two Protestant civilians (one of whom was a former Royal Ulster ConstabularyRoyal Ulster ConstabularyThe Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
officer).
- On 1 September, five Protestant civilians were killed by masked gunmen at Tullyvallan Orange Hall near NewtownhamiltonNewtownhamiltonNewtownhamilton is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is within the townland of Tullyvallan and the barony of Upper Fews. It is part of the Newry and Mourne District Council area...
. The attack was claimed by a group calling itself the "South Armagh Republican Action Force". This was the first time the name had been used.
- On 19 December, loyalists detonated a car bomb at Kay's Tavern in DundalkDundalkDundalk is the county town of County Louth in Ireland. It is situated where the Castletown River flows into Dundalk Bay. The town is close to the border with Northern Ireland and equi-distant from Dublin and Belfast. The town's name, which was historically written as Dundalgan, has associations...
, a few miles across the Irish border. No warning was given beforehand and two civilians were killed. Later that day, three Catholic civilians were killed and six were wounded in a gun and grenade attack on Silverbridge Inn near CrossmaglenCrossmaglenCrossmaglen or Crosmaglen is a village and townland in south County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 1,459 people in the 2001 Census and is the largest village in south Armagh...
. The same group, "Red Hand CommandosRed Hand CommandosThe Red Hand Commando is a small loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland, which is closely linked to the Ulster Volunteer Force...
", claimed responsibility for both attacks. It was later claimed that members of the RUC and Ulster Defence RegimentUlster Defence RegimentThe Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
(UDR) had been part of the loyalist gang.
- On 31 December, three Protestant civilians were killed in an explosion at Central Bar, GilfordGilfordGilford is a village in County Down, Northern Ireland. The village sits on the River Bann between the towns of Banbridge, Tandragee and Portadown. It covers the townlands of Loughans, Ballymacanallen and Drumaran. It had a population of 1,573 people in the 2001 Census...
. The "People's Republican Army" claimed responsibility. It is believed this was a covername used by members of the Irish National Liberation ArmyIrish National Liberation ArmyThe Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
(INLA).
- Four days later, on 4 January 1976, the UVF Mid-Ulster BrigadeUVF Mid-Ulster BrigadeUVF Mid-Ulster Brigade formed part of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland. The brigade was established in Lurgan, County Armagh in 1972 by its first commander Billy Hanna. The unit operated mainly around the Lurgan and Portadown areas. Subsequent leaders of the...
shot dead six Catholic civiliansReavey and O'Dowd killingsThe Reavey and O'Dowd killings took place on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead five Catholic civilians – two from the Reavey family and three from the O'Dowd family – in two co-ordinated attacks....
in two co-ordinated attacks. They killed three members of the Reavey family in WhitecrossWhitecross, County ArmaghWhitecross is a small village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Corlat, in the civil parish of Ballymyre. It is part of the Newry and Mourne District Council area. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 285 people....
and three members of the O'Dowd family in BallydouganBallydouganBallydugan or Ballydougan is a townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies on the County Armagh–County Down border, between Lurgan and Gilford...
, within twenty minutes of each other. One RUC officer was involved and it has been claimed that a UDR member also took part. It has been claimed that this was revenge for the bombing in Gilford.
The 2011 inquiry into the Kingsmill attack found that while it was in “direct response” to the Reavey and O'Dowd killings, the attack was pre-planned. “The murderous attacks on the Reavey and O’Dowd families were simply the catalyst for the premeditated and calculated slaughter of these innocent and defenceless men".
The attack
On 5 January 1976, a Ford TransitFord Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
minibus
Minibus
A minibus or minicoach is a passenger carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the word "minibus" is used to describe any full-sized passenger carrying van. Minibuses have a...
was carrying sixteen textile workers home from work in Glenanne to Bessbrook
Bessbrook
Bessbrook is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles northwest of Newry and close to the main Dublin–Belfast road and rail line...
. Five were Catholics and eleven were Protestants. Four of the Catholics got out at Whitecross, while the remainder continued on the road to Bessbrook. As the bus cleared the rise of a hill, it was stopped by a man standing on the road and flashing a torch. As it stopped, eleven masked gunmen emerged from the hedges and a man "with a pronounced English accent" began talking. At first, the workers assumed that they were being stopped and searched by a British Army or RUC checkpoint, and when ordered to line up beside the bus, they obeyed. At this point the lead gunman ordered the only Catholic, Richard Hughes, to step forward. Hughes' workmates—thinking that the armed men were loyalists who had come to kill him—tried to stop him from identifying himself. However, when Hughes stepped forward the gunman told him to "Get down the road and don't look back".
The remaining eleven men were shot with AR-18
AR-18
The AR-18 is a gas operated, selective fire assault rifle chambered for 5.56x45mm ammunition. The AR-18 was designed at ArmaLite in California by Arthur Miller, George Sullivan, and Charles Dorchester in 1963 as an improved alternative to the AR-15 design, which had just been selected by the U.S....
and L1A1 SLR rifles, a 9mm pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
, and an M1 carbine
M1 Carbine
The M1 carbine is a lightweight, easy to use semi-automatic carbine that became a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was produced in several variants. It was widely used by U.S...
. A total of 136 rounds were fired in less than a minute. Ten of them were killed outright and one, Alan Black, survived despite having eighteen gunshot wounds.
Hughes managed to stop a car and hitched a lift to Bessbrook RUC station, where he raised the alarm. Meanwhile, a man and his wife had come upon the scene of the killings and had begun praying beside the victims. They found Alan Black, who was lying in a ditch and badly wounded. When an ambulance arrived, Black was taken to hospital in Newry
Newry
Newry is a city in Northern Ireland. The River Clanrye, which runs through the city, formed the historic border between County Armagh and County Down. It is from Belfast and from Dublin. Newry had a population of 27,433 at the 2001 Census, while Newry and Mourne Council Area had a population...
, where he was operated on and survived. A police officer said that the road was "an indescribable scene of carnage".
Nine of the dead, the textile workers, were from the village of Bessbrook, while the bus driver was from nearby Mountnorris
Mountnorris
Mountnorris is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about six miles south of Markethill. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 165 people. It is within the Armagh City and District Council area.- History :...
. Four of the men were members of the Orange Order.
The perpetrators
The next day, a caller claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the South Armagh Republican Action ForceSouth Armagh Republican Action Force
The South Armagh Republican Action Force was an alleged Irish republican paramilitary group that was active from 1975 to 1977 during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Its area of activity was mainly the southern part of County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it...
. He said that it was retaliation for the Reavey and O’Dowd killings of the night before, and that there would be "no further action on our part" if loyalists stopped their attacks. He added that the group had no connection with the IRA.
A 2011 report by the Historical Inquiries Team found that the Provisional IRA was responsible for the killings. The inquiry team dismissed the claim at the time that the murders were the work of the South Armagh Republican Action Force. It said such was the widespread revulsion that the IRA attempted to distance itself from the attack by using this cover-name. It added: “There is some intelligence that the Provisional IRA unit responsible was not well-disposed towards central co-ordination but there is no excuse in that. These dreadful murders were carried out by the Provisional IRA and none other.
According to the account of journalist Toby Harnden, the British military intelligence assessment at the time was that the attack was carried out by local IRA members "who were acting outside of the normal IRA command structure". He also quoted an alleged South Armagh
South Armagh
South Armagh can refer to:*The southern part of County Armagh*South Armagh *South Armagh...
IRA member, Volunteer M, who said that "IRA members were ordered by their leaders to carry out the Kingsmill massacre". Furthermore, Harnden reported a contradictory RUC allegation that the attack was planned, and that future Real IRA
Real Irish Republican Army
The Real Irish Republican Army, otherwise known as the Real IRA , and styling itself as Óglaigh na hÉireann , is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation which aims to bring about a united Ireland...
leader Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt
Michael McKevitt is an Irish republican who was convicted of directing terrorism as the leader of the paramilitary organisation, the Real IRA.-Background:...
was among the IRA members who planned it (at the nearby Road House pub on New Year's Eve) and took part.
It was alleged by Harnden that IRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey
Seamus Twomey
Seamus Twomey was an Irish republican and twice chief of staff of the Provisional IRA.-Biography:Born in Belfast, Twomey lived at 6 Sevastopol Street in the Falls district...
, on the suggestion of Brian Keenan
Brian Keenan (Irish republican)
Brian Keenan was a former member of the Army Council of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who received an 18-year prison sentence in 1980 for conspiring to cause explosions, and played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process.-Early life:The son of a member of the Royal Air Force,...
, ordered that there had to be a disproportionate retaliation against Protestants in order to stop Catholics being killed by loyalists. According to IRA informer Sean O'Callaghan
Sean O'Callaghan
Sean O'Callaghan is a former member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army who became an informer for the Garda Síochána and who was later debriefed by the UK's MI5 in the Netherlands...
, "Keenan believed that the only way to put the nonsense out of the Prods [Protestants], was to hit back much harder and more savagely than them". However, O'Callaghan reports that Twomey and Keenan did not consult the IRA Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
before sanctioning the Kingsmill attack. This version of events is disputed by republican leader Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh is an Irish republican. He is a former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army , former president of Sinn Féin and former president of Republican Sinn Féin.-Early life:...
, who claims that he and Twomey only learned of the Kingsmill attack after it had taken place.
The IRA at the time denied responsibility for the killings. It stated on 17 January 1976:
The Irish Republican Army has never initiated sectarian killings... [but] if loyalist elements responsible for over 300 sectarian assassinations in the past four years stop such killing now, then the question of retaliation from whatever source does not arise.
Two AR-18 rifles used in the shooting were found by the British Army in 1990 in a wall near Cullyhanna
Cullyhanna
Cullyhanna is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies on the main road between Newtownhamilton and Crossmaglen. It had a population of 306 in the 2001 Census...
and forensically tested. It was reported that the rifles were linked to 17 killings in the South Armagh area from 1974 to 1990. Further ballistic studies found that guns used in the attack were linked to 37 murders, 22 attempted murders, 19 non-fatal shootings and 11 finds of spent cartridges between 1974 and 1989.
In 1999 Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
, quoting what he said was an RUC dossier, claimed that one of the Reavey brothers (who were killed by the UVF the day before) participated in the Kingsmill attack (see below).
Reactions and aftermath
The Kingsmill massacre was the last in the series of sectarian killings in South Armagh during the mid-1970s. According to local unionistUnionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...
activist Willie Frazer
Willie Frazer
William "Willie" Frazer is the founder and leader of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives in Northern Ireland. He was also a leader of the Love Ulster campaign.-Background:...
of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. It describes itself as a "non-sectarian, non-political organisation" that works "in the interests of the innocent victims of terrorism in South Armagh."-Leadership:FAIR is...
(FAIR), this was as a result of deal between the local UVF and IRA groups.
Two days after the massacre, Prime Minister Harold Wilson
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, FRS, FSS, PC was a British Labour Member of Parliament, Leader of the Labour Party. He was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the 1960s and 1970s, winning four general elections, including a minority government after the...
announced that the Special Air Service
Special Air Service
Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...
(SAS) was being moved into the South Armagh area. This was the first time that SAS presence in Northern Ireland was officially acknowledged. However, according to historian Richard English
Richard English
Richard English is a historian from Northern Ireland. He was born in Belfast in 1963. His father, Donald English was a prominent Methodist preacher. He studied as an undergraduate at Keble College, Oxford, and subsequently at Keele University, where he was awarded a PhD in History...
, "It seems clear that the SAS had been in the north well before this. According to the Provisionals since 1971; according to a former SAS soldier they had been there even earlier". Units and personnel under SAS control are alleged to have been involved in loyalist attacks. Author Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden is an Anglo-American journalist and author. He has been US editor of The Daily Telegraph since 2006.-Background:...
places regiment's B squadron in Belfast as early as 1974.
Loyalist response
There were no immediate revenge attacks by loyalist paramilitaries. However, in 2007 it emerged that local UVF members from the "Glenanne gangGlenanne gang
The Glenanne gang was a name given, since 2003, to a loose alliance of Northern Irish loyalist extremists who carried out sectarian killings and bomb attacks in the 1970s against the Irish Catholic and Irish nationalist community. Most of its attacks took place in the area of County Armagh and mid...
" had planned to kill at least 30 Catholic school children as retaliation. This gang had been involved in the Reavey–O'Dowd killings and it included members of the RUC's Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group (RUC)
The Special Patrol Group in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was a police unit tasked with counter terrorism. Each SPG had 30 members. Many of the SPG units were accused of collusion with the illegal paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, particularly the actions of a unit based in Armagh.-A...
and the British Army's Ulster Defence Regiment
Ulster Defence Regiment
The Ulster Defence Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army which became operational in 1970, formed on similar lines to other British reserve forces but with the operational role of defence of life or property in Northern Ireland against armed attack or sabotage...
. Following the Kingsmill shootings, the gang drew-up plans to attack St Lawrence O'Toole Primary School in the South Armagh village of Belleeks. The plan was aborted at the last minute on orders of the UVF's Brigade Staff (Belfast leadership), who ruled that it would be "morally unacceptable", would undermine support for the UVF, and could lead to civil war. One Glenanne gang member said that the UVF leadership also feared the potential IRA response. The gang member who suggested the attack was a UDR soldier. The leadership allegedly suspected that he was working for British Military Intelligence, and that Military Intelligence were seeking to provoke a civil war.
Another UVF gang, the "Shankill Butchers
Shankill Butchers
The Shankill Butchers is the name given to an Ulster loyalist gang, many of whom were members of the Ulster Volunteer Force . The gang conducted paramilitary activities during the 1970s in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was most notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture and murder of random...
", also planned retaliation for the massacre. This gang operated in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
and was notorious for its late-night kidnapping, torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
and murder (by throat slashing) of random Catholic civilians. Within a week of the massacre, it had laid the groundwork for an attack on a lorry that ferried Catholic workmen to Corry's Timber Yard in West Belfast. The plan was to shoot all of those on board. However, the plan was abandoned after the workers changed their route and transport.
Some loyalists claim the Kingsmill massacre is the reason they joined paramilitary groups. One was Billy Wright
Billy Wright (loyalist)
William Stephen "Billy" Wright was a prominent Ulster loyalist during the period of violent religious/political conflict known as "The Troubles". He joined the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1975 and became commander of its Mid-Ulster Brigade in the early 1990s...
, who said:
I was 15 when those workmen were pulled out of that bus and shot dead. I was a Protestant and I realised that they had been killed simply because they were Protestants. I left Mountnorris, came back to Portadown and immediately joined the youth wing of the UVF.He went on to assume command of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade when its leader Robin "the Jackal" Jackson
Robin Jackson
Robert John "Robin" Jackson, known as the Jackal was a Northern Irish loyalist who held the rank of brigadier in the Ulster Volunteer Force during the period of violent religious and political conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles.From his home in the small village of Donaghcloney,...
"retired" in the early 1990s; Wright later founded the breakaway Loyalist Volunteer Force
Loyalist Volunteer Force
The Loyalist Volunteer Force is a loyalist paramilitary group in Northern Ireland. It was formed by Billy Wright in 1996 when he and the Portadown unit of the Ulster Volunteer Force's Mid-Ulster Brigade was stood down by the UVF leadership. He had been the commander of the Mid-Ulster Brigade. The...
(LVF) in 1996. He was suspected of at least 20 sectarian killings of Catholics in the 1980s and 1990s.
Another with similar claims was RUC Special Patrol Group
Special Patrol Group (RUC)
The Special Patrol Group in the Royal Ulster Constabulary was a police unit tasked with counter terrorism. Each SPG had 30 members. Many of the SPG units were accused of collusion with the illegal paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force, particularly the actions of a unit based in Armagh.-A...
officer Billy McCaughey
Billy McCaughey
William "Billy" McCaughey was a member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary's Special Patrol Group and the illegal Ulster Volunteer Force in the 1970s. He was imprisoned for 16 years for murder from 1980 to 1996...
, who was one of the RUC officers present at the aftermath of the massacre. He told Toby Harnden, "the sides of the road were running red with blood and it was the blood of totally innocent Protestants". Afterwards, McCaughey says that he began passing RUC intelligence to the UVF and Ulster Defence Association
Ulster Defence Association
The Ulster Defence Association is the largest although not the deadliest loyalist paramilitary and vigilante group in Northern Ireland. It was formed in September 1971 and undertook a campaign of almost twenty-four years during "The Troubles"...
(UDA) and also to participate in their operations. McCaughey was convicted in 1980 of one sectarian killing, the kidnapping of a Catholic priest, and one failed bombing. However, McCaughey had colluded with loyalists before the Kingsmill attack, and later admitted to taking part in the Reavey killings the day before – he claimed he "was at the house but fired no shots". McCaughey also gave his view on how the massacre affected loyalists:
I think Kingsmills forced people to ask themselves where they were going, especially the Protestant support base, the civilian support base – the people who were not members of the UVF but would let you use a building or a field. Those people, many of them withdrew. It wasn't because of anything the UVF did. It was fear of retaliation.
No one was ever charged in relation to the Kingsmill massacre. In August 2003, there were calls for the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Police Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
to reopen the files relating to the massacre.
Republican response
The reactions of Irish republicansIrish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
at the time was mixed. It was allegedly ordered by elements of the IRA leadership (Seamus Twomey and Brian Keenan), but others, such as Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
, were reported to be very unhappy about it. According to Sean O'Callaghan, Adams said in an Army Council meeting, "there'll never again be another Kingsmills".
IRA members in South Armagh, who talked to journalist and author Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden
Toby Harnden is an Anglo-American journalist and author. He has been US editor of The Daily Telegraph since 2006.-Background:...
in the late 1990s, generally condemned the massacre. One of them, Volunteer M, said it was "a gut reaction [to the killing of Catholics] and a wrong one. The worst time in my life was in jail after Kingsmill. It was a dishonourable time". Another, Volunteer G, said that he "never agreed with Kingsmills". Republican activist Peter John Caraher said that those ultimately responsible were "the loyalists who shot the Reavey brothers". He added, "It was sad that those people [at Kingsmills] had to die, but I'll tell you something, it stopped any more Catholics being killed". This view was reiterated by a County Tyrone republican and Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...
veteran who spoke to Ed Moloney
Ed Moloney
Ed Moloney is an Irish journalist and author best known for his coverage of the Troubles in Northern Ireland and particularly the activities of the Provisional IRA. Ed worked for the Hibernia magazine and Magill before going on to serve as Northern Ireland editor for The Irish Times and...
. "It's a lesson you learn quickly on the football
Gaelic football
Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...
field... If you're fouled, you hit back", he said.
Ian Paisley and Eugene Reavey
In 1999, Democratic Unionist PartyDemocratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...
(DUP) leader Ian Paisley
Ian Paisley
Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...
stated in the House of Commons that Eugene Reavey took part in the massacre. Eugene Reavey's three brothers were killed by loyalists the day before
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
The Reavey and O'Dowd killings took place on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force , a loyalist paramilitary group, shot dead five Catholic civilians – two from the Reavey family and three from the O'Dowd family – in two co-ordinated attacks....
, although Paisley made no reference to those killings.
Eugene Reavey had "witnessed the immediate aftermath of the [Kingsmill] massacre, which took place near his home. He was driving to Newry and happened upon it. He and his family were on their way to Daisy Hill hospital to collect the bodies of two of his brothers, John (24) and Brian (22)." Eugene Reavey "was also going to visit his younger brother, Anthony, who had been badly injured in the attack. The bodies of the murdered workmen were being brought into the mortuary when he arrived. He went into the room where the shattered families were gathering, and wept with them. Alan Black [sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre] and Anthony Reavey shared a hospital room. Black lived whilst Reavey later died."
Paisley used parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
to name those he believed responsible, including Eugene Reavey, whom he accused of being "a well-known republican" who "set up the Kingsmills massacre". Paisley claimed to be quoting from a "police
Royal Ulster Constabulary
The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...
dossier". Paisley's claims were rejected by the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre, Alan Black, and also by Reavey himself.
Susan McKay wrote in the Irish Times that Alan Black, on hearing Paisley's accusations,
...went straight to the Reaveys' house in Whitecross, south Armagh. He told Reavey that he knew he was innocent. The PSNI has stated that it had no reason to suspect Reavey of any crime, let alone of masterminding the atrocity ... The then Northern Ireland deputy first minister, the SDLPSocial Democratic and Labour PartyThe Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
's Seamus MallonSeamus MallonSeamus Frederick Mallon born 17 August 1936, in Markethill, County Armagh, is an Irish politician and former Deputy Leader of the nationalist Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland...
, expressed outrage. Reavey went to the chief constable of the RUC, Ronnie FlanaganRonnie FlanaganSir Ronald Flanagan, GBE, QPM, was the Home Office Chief Inspector of Constabulary for the United Kingdom excluding Scotland...
. Flanagan said he had "absolutely no evidence whatsoever" to connect him with the massacre, and that no police file contained any such allegation.
Historical Enquires Team investigation
In January 2007, the Police Service of Northern IrelandPolice Service of Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
's Historical Enquiries Team
Historical Enquiries Team
The Historical Enquiries Team is a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles ....
apologised to the Reavey family for allegations that the three brothers killed in 1976 were IRA members or that Eugene Reavey had been involved in the Kingsmill attack. Despite this, the allegation continued to be promoted by Willie Frazer
Willie Frazer
William "Willie" Frazer is the founder and leader of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives in Northern Ireland. He was also a leader of the Love Ulster campaign.-Background:...
of FAIR
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives is a non-governmental organisation founded in 1998 in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. It describes itself as a "non-sectarian, non-political organisation" that works "in the interests of the innocent victims of terrorism in South Armagh."-Leadership:FAIR is...
. In May 2010, the HET released a report which exonerated the three Reavey brothers and their family of any links to paramilitarism. Eugene Reavey says he now wants an apology from Ian Paisley for the comments he made in 1999. Reavey is currently taking a related case to the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
.
The HET published its findings concerning Kingsmill in June 2011. Responding to the report, Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin said that he did "not dispute the sectarian nature of the killings" but continued to believe "the denials by the IRA that they were involved". On June 20 SDLP
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...
Assemblyman Dominic Bradley
Dominic Bradley
Dominic Bradley MLA is an Irish politician and currently an Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Newry and Armagh...
called on Sinn Féin to "publicly accept that the HET’s forensic evidence on the firearms used puts Provisional responsibility beyond question" and cease "deny[ing] that the Provisional IRA was in the business of organising sectarian killings on a large scale."