The Troubles in Strabane

The Troubles in Strabane recounts incidents during the Troubles in Strabane, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

In addition to the incidents listed below, Strabane was affected by countless relatively low- and mid-level episodes between 1970 and the late 1990s. These incidents included: gun battles, car bombings, incendiary devices exploding in commercial premises, sustained rioting, hoax bomb alerts and pipe bomb attacks. Particularly in the early to mid-1970s, such incidents occurred on a daily basis and mostly in the Ballycolman and "Head Of The Town" areas.

Since the Good Friday Agreement (1998), the town has witnessed sporadic dissident republican activity in the form of gun attacks, pipe bomb attacks, punishment shootings, hoax bomb alerts and very occasional rioting. Fatalities and some other major incidents which occurred in Strabane during the Troubles include:

1969

• 12–13 August: Following the start of the Battle of the Bogside in nearby Derry, riots break out in Strabane, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) station attacked and damage widespread around town centre.

1971

• 9 August: Winston Donnell (22), Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) soldier, from Hillhead, Urney, shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), while part of a patrol carrying out a vehicle checkpoint near Clady. Donnell was the first UDR soldier to die in the conflict.
• 18 August 1971: Eamon McDevitt (28), a deaf mute Catholic civilian, shot during street disturbances by the British Army, Fountain Street. This incident was one of a number to feature in a European Court of Human Rights inter-state case.
• 18 September 1971: Roy Leslie (20) from Moy, County Tyrone, an RUC officer, shot and killed by the IRA while on patrol at midday in Abercorn Square, Strabane. A second RUC officer was seriously injured in the attack.
• 24 November 1971: Brigid Carr (27), native of County Donegal, Roman Catholic civilian killed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army during an attack on members of the Royal Engineers working about 150 yards from the border between Strabane and Lifford close to the British Army border base.
• 10 December 1971: Sergeant Kenneth Smyth (28), UDR, and Daniel McCormick, ex-UDR, killed by IRA while off duty. Shot while travelling to work in car, at Lisdoo, Clady, near Strabane.
• 12 December 1971: John Barnhill (65), Ulster Unionist Party member of the Senate of Northern Ireland, was shot dead by the Official IRA at his home of Brickfield House near Strabane, which was also destroyed in an explosion in the same incident. He was the first politician to be killed during The Troubles.

1972

• 16 July 1972: Tobias Molloy (18), Fianna Éireann, shot dead by a rubber bullet fired by British soldier at the Camel's Hump border checkpoint.
• 19 July: Alan Jack (5-month-old baby from Ballymagorry, County Tyrone), killed by an IRA bomb in Abercorn Square, the youngest person to die in the Troubles.
• 3 August 1972: William Clark (34 from Scotland), British Army bomb disposal expert, killed trying to defuse an IRA bomb discovered by the side of Urney road.
• 27 December 1972: Eugene Devlin (22), IRA member shot dead during attack on British Army patrol in a field near Drumrallagh Estate, Strabane.

1972 was the year in which most deaths (479) attributed to the Troubles occurred.

1973

• 1 February 1973: William Boardley, British Army soldier, shot dead by an Irish Republican Army sniper while on roadblock duty at Meetinghouse Street, Strabane.
• 17 March 1973: Linsey Mooney (19), UDA/UFF from Lincoln Court, Waterside, Derry, killed in a premature explosion in the vehicle IED he was driving at Cloughfin, County Donegal just over the Border from Clady near Strabane.
• 21 June 1973: David Smith (31), British Army dog handler, killed in an Irish Republican Army booby trap explosion while searching derelict houses in the Ballycolman Estate, Strabane.
• 15 December 1973: Jim McGinn (20), Irish Republican Army member from Delaney Crescent, Strabane, killed in premature explosion of his own IED on the Southern side of the border at Clady Bridge on the outskirts of Strabane.

1974

• 22 June 1974: Hugh Devine (33), civilian killed by British Army foot patrol in Olympic Drive, Ballycolman, Strabane. The following day the soldier involved in the shooting, Ian Thain (19), was charged with murder, the first time a British soldier was charged with murder during the conflict, the charge was later reduced to manslaughter and Thain was acquitted.
• 20 July 1974: Daniel Harkin (47), Catholic civilian, found dead in the garden of his home at Meenashesk Place, Strabane, after being dragged from his bed by two masked men, the inquest it was said that he could have died either from a fall or from receiving a heavy blow to the head, but there was no conclusive he was beaten (reasons unknown). Both the OIRA and PIRA denied responsibility for the attack.
• 15 November 1974: Anthony Simmons (19), British soldier, shot and killed by IRA sniper in Townsend Street area of Strabane while on foot patrol.

1980

• 13 April 1980: Mary Doherty (53), Catholic civilian, killed by British Army while traveling in car towards British Army border Camels Hump checkpoint. A 21-year-old member of the Argyll and Sunderland Highlanders was charged for unlawful killing, twelve months later he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to twelve months in a young offenders centre, suspended for two years.
• 27 December 1980: Joan Pollock, Protestant civilian, died three weeks after being shot in her home during a PIRA sniper attack on a Royal Ulster Constabulary mobile patrol.

1981

• 31 July 1981: Thomas Harpur, ex-Royal Ulster Constabuary, killed by the Irish Republican Army while visiting friend's home at the Ballycolman estate in Strabane. The INLA initially claimed responsibility, but it was later revealed that the IRA was responsible.
• 19 November 1981: John McKeegan (49), off-duty member of Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), shot dead by the Irish Republican Army while delivering wood in Olympic Drive, Ballycolman.

1982

• 12 May 1982: Thomas Cunningham, ex-UDR soldier, shot dead in Fountain Park, Strabane by the Irish Republican Army.
• 15 June 1982: Hugh Cummings, off-duty UDR soldier shot in Lower Main Street, Strabane by the Irish Republican Army.

1983

• 23 August 1983: Ronald Finlay, off duty UDR soldier shot dead in Beechmount Avenue, Strabane by the Irish Republican Army.

1985

David Devine died 23 February 1985

Michael Devine died 23 February 1985

Charles Breslin died 23 February 1985

• 23 February 1985: Michael Devine (22), David Devine (17) and Charles Breslin (20), all Catholic members of the Irish Republican Army, were shot dead by British Army members (Special Air Service), while returning arms to a dump, in a field, off Plumbridge Road, Strabane.
• 22 August 1985: Daniel Mallon (65), Catholic civilian, shot dead by the Irish Republican Army in the Railway Bar, apparently in mistaken identity for a local contractor who was carrying out work for the security forces in the area.
• 7 October 1985: Damien McCrory (20), Catholic civilian, shot dead by Irish Republican Army, by the side of road, Drumrallagh, Strabane, as an alleged informer.

1988

• 10 August 1988: James McPhilemy (22) a member of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) from Melmount road, Strabane, was shot during an attempted attack on a British Army post at Clady, near Strabane, he was taken to Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry, but pronounced dead on arrival.

1989

• 28 January 1989: Stephen Montgomery (26), Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer from Omagh, killed in an Irish Republican Army grenade attack on his patrol vehicle in Sion Mills, near Strabane.
• 27 June 1989: David Black (34), full-time member of RUC reserve, killed by Irish Republican Army booby trap bomb planted under his car at his home.

1990

• 20 October 1990: David Pollock (30), Protestant ex-UDR man, shot and killed in an IRA ambush on the Melmount Road.
• 12 November 1990: Alexander Patterson, (31), Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) member from Church View, Strabane, shot and killed by undercover members of the SAS, in the village of Victoria Bridge near Strabane, during an attack on the home of a member of the UDR.

1991

• 15 August 1991: Ronald Finlay (47), ex-member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), was shot and killed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) at his workplace, a farm, on Brocklass Road, Sion Mills, County Tyrone.

2001

• 29 October 2001: Charles Folliard (30), former UDA paramilitary, was killed by dissident republicans in the Ballycolman estate, shot six times as he left his girlfriend's house.

References

• NI Conflict Archive on the Internet