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On 7 March 2009, two off-duty British soldiers of 38 Engineer Regiment were shot dead outside Massereene Barracks in Antrim town, Northern Ireland. Two other soldiers and two civilian delivery men were also shot and wounded during the attack. An Irish republican paramilitary group, the Real IRA, claimed responsibility. The shootings were the first British military fatalities in Northern Ireland since February 1997. Two days later the Continuity IRA shot dead a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer; the first Northern Irish police officer to be killed by paramilitaries since 1998. There followed a miscarriage of justice when cystic fibrosis sufferer Brian Shivers was convicted of the murders and jailed for life, only to later have his conviction quashed after time in prison.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Real IRA murders: Brian Shivers cleared of 2009 double murder of British soldiers at Massereene barracks in Antrim )〕 ==Shooting== At about 21:40 that evening, four off-duty British soldiers of the Royal Engineers walked outside the barracks to receive a pizza delivery from two delivery men. As the exchange was taking place, two gunmen in a nearby car (a green Vauxhall Cavalier) opened fire with Romanian AKM automatic rifles.〔 The firing lasted for more than 30 seconds with more than 60 shots being fired. After the initial burst of gunfire, the gunmen walked over to the wounded soldiers and fired again at close range, killing two of them.〔 Those killed were Sappers Mark Quinsey from Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar from London.〔(MOD press release: Sappers Patrick Azimkar and Mark Quinsey killed in Northern Ireland )〕 The other two soldiers and two deliverymen were wounded. The soldiers were wearing desert fatigues and were to be deployed to Afghanistan the next day.〔〔(Massereene Barracks attack started with pizza order ). 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2009-03-08〕 A few hours later, the car involved was found abandoned near Randalstown, eight miles from the barracks. A Dublin-based newspaper, the ''Sunday Tribune'', received a phone call from a caller using a recognised Real IRA codeword. The caller claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the Real IRA, adding that the civilian pizza deliverymen were legitimate targets as they were "collaborating with the British by servicing them". The shootings were the first British military fatalities in Northern Ireland since Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick was shot dead by the Provisional IRA in February 1997, during the period known as "The Troubles". The attack came days after a suggestion by Northern Ireland's police chief, Sir Hugh Orde, that the likelihood of a terrorist attack in Northern Ireland was at its highest level for several years. The barracks were shut down in 2010 as part of the reduction of the British Army presence in Northern Ireland.〔(Army base savings ‘should be used to fight dissidents' ) ''The Belfast Telegraph'', 23 July 2009〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「2009 Massereene Barracks shooting」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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