The Troubles in Ardboe

The Troubles in Ardboe recounts incidents during and the effects of the Troubles in Ardboe, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Incidents in Ardboe during the Troubles resulting fatalities:

1972

 * 16 October 1972 - John Patrick Mullan (37) and Hugh Herron (37), both Catholic members of the Official Irish Republican Army were shot and killed by members of the Staffordshire Regiment British Army in the carpark of St. Patrick's Hall, Ardboe. John Patrick Mullan died protecting a third Volunteer, the youngest member of the unit at only 19 years old, who managed to escape. All men in the car were unarmed. John Mullan and Hugh Heron were both members of the Official I.R.A. at the time of their deaths, John Mullan was a Staff Captain. Cathal Goulding gave the oration at their funerals, which were widely attended by members of both the Official and Provisional Irish Republican Army. John Mullan and Hugh Herron have been dubbed the Ardboe Martyrs.

1977

 * 2 June 1977 - Hugh Martin (58), Samuel Davidson (24) and Norman Lynch (22), all Protestant members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, were shot dead by Provisional Irish Republican Army snipers while on mobile patrol near Ardboe.

1978

 * 26 February 1978 - Paul Duffy (23), a Catholic Volunteer of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), was shot by an undercover British Army (BA) SAS member at an arms dump in an unoccupied farmhouse, near Ardboe. Another IRA Volunteer was injured in the attack but survived. This was the first time the SAS had been used in action outside of South Armagh.

1979

 * 22 June 1979 - John "Jack" Scott (49), a Protestant off-duty reserve police office was shot by the Irish Republican Army while delivering milk in Ardboe.

1984

 * 13 July 1984 - William Price (28), a Catholic member of the Irish Republican Army, was ambushed by the SAS during an attempted incendiary bomb attack on Forbes factory in Ardboe.

1988

 * 26 April 1988 - Edward "Ned" Gibson (22), a Protestant off-duty member of the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), was shot by the Provisional Irish Republican Army while working as a bin man in Moortown, near Ardboe.
 * On 30 November 1989, Liam Ryan was shot dead in the Battery Bar by the UVF. Civilians Michael Devlin also died and Pat Campbell received life changing injuries as the result of the shootings