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The men were part of the RUC Operational Support Unit, which surveilled the Irish border along with the British Army. [84] The unmarked patrol car was on Main Street when it was hit by at least 20 shots from both sides of the road. In a follow up operation a British Army Lynx helicopter received automatic fire from an IRA unit. [85] [86]
The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) [n 1] was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) [2] following the partition of Ireland. At its peak the force had around 8,500 officers, with a further 4,500 who were members of the RUC Reserve.
The RUC was a militarised police force [17] [18] [19] and played a key role in policing the violent conflict known as the Troubles. Initially, Sinn Féin , which represented about a quarter of Northern Ireland voters at the time, refused to endorse the PSNI until the Patten Commission's recommendations were implemented in full.
The RUC SPG was based on the Metropolitan Police model with the main roles of preventing outbreaks of public order and an anti-terrorist role. The SPG in London was disbanded in January 1987 and the same fate befell the RUC Special Patrol Group. They were replaced by Divisional Mobile Support Units operating under local divisional control. [5]
16 July 1972: Two British soldiers were killed in an IRA landmine attack on their armoured vehicle in Crossmaglen, County Armagh. In Belfast an RUC officer was killed in an IRA gun attack on his patrol car. A member of the IRA Youth Section , was killed by a rubber bullet fired by security forces in Strabane, County Tyrone. [53]
This is a timeline of actions by the Official Irish Republican Army (Official IRA or OIRA), an Irish republican & Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of a Guerrilla campaign against the British Army & Royal Ulster Constabulary and internal Irish Republican feuds with the Provisional IRA & Irish National Liberation Army from the early 1970s - to the mid ...
4 May: There was an attempted mortar attack on Grosvenor Road RUC base in Belfast. One of the mortars fell short of the target and the other exploded in its launch tube. [3] 8 May: The RIRA issued a statement declaring war on the United Kingdom. [3] 9 May: There was an attempted mortar attack on the RUC base in Belleek, County Fermanagh. The ...
In this period, according to evidence given in court at the time by RUC deputy chief constable Michael McAtamney, officers selected for the unit underwent an immensely tough two-week assessment of fitness, mental ability and endurance under pressure, followed by a four-week course including seven days devoted exclusively to weapons training ...