Newry attack in 1985
The attack in Newry ( English 1985 Newry mortar attack ) occurred during the Northern Ireland conflict on February 28, 1985 on a station of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Newry , Northern Ireland . The impact of an improvised mortar shell on a Portakabin left nine dead and over 30 injured. It was the most casualty attack by the IRA on the RUC during the Northern Ireland conflict.
prehistory
From the early 1970s, the IRA was faced with increasing fortifications of police stations and barracks. On the other hand, the IRA used self-made incendiary devices and explosive devices with fuses in the initial phase, which had to be thrown or shot over the safety devices with great risk and without great success. From June 1972 the IRA used self-made mortars , which the security forces called "Mark" and numbered from 1 to 17 depending on the degree of development.
In the attack on Newry, the Mark 10, which was used from 1979, was used, which developed into the "workhorse" of the IRA's mortar arsenal in the 1980s. It had a diameter of 150 cm and fired converted gas cylinders 120 cm long, which held eleven to 100 kg of explosives based on an ammonium nitrate / nitrobenzene mixture or Semtex , at a distance of up to 300 m. Often several of these mortars were mounted on a truck and fired in series to increase the probability of being hit.
Using this model, the IRA launched a variety of attacks on the British Army and RUC. The first casualty from such a shelling was a hit on March 19, 1979 on a RUC station in Newtownhamilton , when the 23-year-old private Peter Woolmore was killed. Also with this type of mortar, the grenade attack on Downing Street No. 10 perpetrated.
attack
At around 6:30 p.m. on February 28, 1985, several explosions occurred in the area of the RUC station in Corry Square, Newry. They came from Mark 10 mortars, which presumably fired their explosive charges remotely. Nine of these mortars were discovered about 230 meters from the police station on the back of a truck that had been stolen hours before the attack. The mortars are said to have been aimed at the radio mast of the police station marked with a red light.
At least one of the improvised grenades hit a portakabin used as a canteen , in which several RUC officials were staying for the evening tea break. Nine officers were killed and around 30 injured. Another shell had struck on a residential street directly in front of the station and caused extensive property damage. The highest-ranking fatality was Chief Inspector Alex Donaldson (41), a cousin of the Northern Irish politician Jeffrey Donaldson . Sergeant John Dowd (31) and Constable David Topping (22), the two female constables Rosemary McGookin (27) and Ivy Kelly (29), as well as the reserve constables Paul McFerran (33), Geoffrey Campbell (24) and Denis Price died (22) and Sean McHenry (19).
Because of this attack, the RUC stations were reinforced.