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The Loughgall ambush took place on 8 May 1987 in the village of Loughgall, Northern Ireland. An eight-man unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) launched an attack on the village's Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base. Three IRA members drove a digger with a bomb in its bucket through the base's perimeter fence, while the rest of the unit arrived in a van and fired on the building. As the bomb exploded, the IRA unit was ambushed and killed by a 36-man unit of the British Army's Special Air Service (SAS). The British Army and RUC had received detailed intelligence about the IRA's plans and had been waiting in hidden positions. A civilian was also killed by the SAS after unwittingly driving into the ambush zone. The joint SAS and RUC operation was codenamed Operation Judy.〔Brown, Andrew. ''The Difficult War: Perspectives on Insurgency and Special Operations Forces''. Dundurn, 2009. pp.132-133〕〔MacKenzie, Alastair. ''Special Force: The Untold Story of 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (SAS)''. p.319〕 It was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during the Troubles.〔("Ten cases of special forces in action" ). BBC News, 5 May 2011.〕 ==Background and preparations== The Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade was active mainly in eastern County Tyrone and neighbouring parts of County Armagh. By the mid-1980s it had become one of the IRA's most professional and effective units. Members of the unit, such as Jim Lynagh and Pádraig McKearney, advocated a strategy of destroying bases and preventing them being rebuilt or repaired, thus "denying ground" to British forces.〔〔Taylor, Peter. ("Loughgall: playing it rough" ). ''Daily Mail'', 8 May 2001.〕 In 1985, Patrick Joseph Kelly became its commander and began implementing the strategy. In 1985 and 1986, it carried out two major attacks on RUC bases described by author Mark Urban as "spectaculars".〔''Big Boys' Rules'', Mark Urban, Faber and Faber (1992), p. 224, ISBN 0-571-16112-X.〕 The first was an attack on the RUC barracks in Ballygawley on 7 December 1985. The second was an attack on an RUC base at The Birches on 11 August 1986. In both attacks, the bases were raked with gunfire and then destroyed with a bomb. In the attack at The Birches, they had breached the base's perimeter fence with a digger that had a bomb in its bucket.〔 It planned to use the same tactic in an attack on the lightly-manned Loughgall base.〔〔''Big Boys' Rules'', p. 227.〕 The British security forces, however, had received detailed and accurate intelligence about the IRA's plans.〔 It is believed that this was obtained by RUC Special Branch and the British Army's Special Reconnaissance Unit (SRU).〔 It has been alleged that the security forces had a double agent inside the IRA unit, and that he was killed by the SAS in the ambush. Other sources claim that the security forces had instead learned of the ambush through other surveillance methods. On 7 May, the RUC base was secretly evacuated and about 36 SAS soldiers, as well as officers from the RUC's Mobile Support Unit (MSU), were deployed.〔 The MSU was the RUC's equivalent of the SAS. Most of the soldiers and officers were hidden around the base, with one team inside and others hidden along the IRA’s anticipated route.〔 The IRA's attack involved two teams. One team would drive a digger with a bomb in its bucket through the base's perimeter fence and light the fuse. At the same time, the other would arrive in a van and open fire on the base. Both teams would then leave the area in the van.〔 The van and digger that would be used were hijacked in the hours leading up to the attack.〔 The van, a blue Toyota HiAce, was taken from a business in Dungannon. The digger (a backhoe loader) was taken from a farm at Lislasly Road, about two miles west of Loughgall. Two IRA members stayed at the farm to stop the owners raising the alarm. IRA member Declan Arthurs drove the digger, while two others drove ahead of him in a scout car. The rest of the unit travelled in the van from another location, presumably also with a scout car.〔 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「Loughgall ambush」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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