16th August

Key Events & Deaths on this day in Northern Ireland Troubles

Monday 16 August 1971

Over 8,000 workers went on strike in Derry in protest at Internment. Joe Cahill, then Chief of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), held a press conference during which he claimed that only 30 IRA men had been interned.

Thursday 16 August 1973

Two members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) died when a mortar bomb exploded prematurely during an attack on the join British Army / Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base in Pomeroy, County Tyrone.

Monday 16 August 1976

Two Catholic civilians were killed in a bomb planted by Loyalist paramilitaries outside the Step Inn, Keady, County Armagh.

Thursday 16 August 1984

Loyalist paramilitaries opened fire on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers on the Shankill Road as riots continued in Protestant areas of Belfast.

Friday 16 August 1985

There were more disturbances in Portadown, County Armagh, following a Loyalist band parade. Some shops were looted and set on fire.

Friday 16 August 1991

Thomas Donagh (38), then a Sinn Féin (SF) member, was shot dead by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name (pseudonym) used by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), in Kilrea, County Derry.

Martin O’Prey (28), then a member of the Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO), was shot dead by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in the lower Falls area of west Belfast.

[These killings were part of an upsurge in Loyalist violence following the ending of the CLMC ceasefire on the 4 July 1991.]

Monday 16 August 1993

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) carried out a bomb attack in the centre of Strabane, County Tyrone.

Saturday 16 August 1997

An Irish Republican Army (IRA) ‘bomb factory’ was discovered by Garda Síochána (the Irish police) at a farmhouse in Crosskeys, near Cavan. The factory was not believed to have been operational for some weeks.

Sunday 16 August 1998

The 32-County Sovereignty Committee issued a statement denying that the organisation was associated with those responsible for the Omagh bombing.

Thursday 16 August 2001

The body of a man was discovered in west Belfast at 4.30am (0430BST) at the junction of Shankill Road and Lanark Way. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) said that the man had suffered extensive head wounds.

[Police were trying to establish a motive for the killing.]

A pipe-bomb exploded in the garden of a house belonging to a Catholic family living in Ingledale Park in north Belfast. There were no injuries during the attack.

[Loyalist paramilitaries were thought to have carried out the attack.]

There was a ‘nail-bomb’ attack on the home of a Protestant family in Westland Road in north Belfast. There were no injuries during the attack.

[Republican paramilitaries were thought to have been responsible for the attack.]

At around 11.00pm (2300BST) a gang of four masked men broke into a flat in Maralin Avenue, Lisburn, County Antrim. A man who was in the flat was beaten with wooden batons. He suffered bruising to the arms, legs and body.

Arsonists broke into St Peter’s Catholic Church in Stoneyford, near Belfast, and started a fire. A retired fireman entered the building and brought the fire under control. Loyalists from the Lisburn area were believed to have been responsible for the attack.

John Reid, then Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced that he was providing an additional £10 million available for policing which would bring the total buget for the current financial year to £645 million. The additional spending was to cover a short-term deficit.

Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), took a break from his holiday in County Kerry, Republic of Ireland, to travel back to Dublin for a meeting with John Hume, then leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The two men were expected to discuss the recent setbacks in the peace process. Before the meeting Hume had called on the Irish Republican Army (IRA) to “restore immediately its contact with General de Chastelain and its commitment to a scheme for resolving the decommissioning issue”.#

 16 August 2008

The Continuity IRA (CIRA) fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a police patrol in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. Three officers required hospital treatment.

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Remembering all innocent victims of the Troubles

Today is the anniversary of the follow  people killed as a results of the conflict in Northern Ireland

To the innocent on the list – Your memory will live forever

– To  the Paramilitaries  –

“There are many things worth living for, a few things worth dying for, but nothing worth killing for.

9 people lost their lives on the 16th August between 1972 – 1991

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 16 August 1972

William Spence,   (32)

Protestant
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Barman. Shot while in Long Bar, Shankill,

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 16 August 1973

Daniel McAnallen,   (27)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed when mortar bomb exploded prematurely, during attack on Pomeroy British Army (BA) / Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base, County Tyrone.

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16 August 1973

Patrick Quinn,  (18)

Catholic
Status: Irish Republican Army (IRA),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Killed when mortar bomb exploded prematurely, during attack on Pomeroy British Army (BA) / Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) base, County Tyrone.

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 16 August 1976

Ellizabeth McDonald,   (38)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Killed when car bomb exploded outside Step Inn, Keady, County Armagh.

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16 August 1976

Gerard McGleenan,   (22)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: non-specific Loyalist group (LOY)
Killed when car bomb exploded outside Step Inn, Keady, County Armagh.

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 16 August 1980

Colette Meek,   (47)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Shot outside her home, during sniper attack on Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) mobile patrol, Alliance Avenue, Ardoyne, Belfast.

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 16 August 1981

Charles Armstrong,  (55)

Catholic
Status: Civilian (Civ),

Killed by: Irish Republican Army (IRA)
Abducted shortly after leaving his home, Crossmaglen, County Armagh. His remains eventually found by information supplied anonymously, buried in bogland, Aughrim More, near Inniskeen, County Monaghan, on 29 July 2010.

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16 August 1991

Thomas Donaghy,  (38)

Catholic
Status: ex-Irish Republican Army (xIRA),

Killed by: Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF)
Sinn Fein (SF) member. Shot as he arrived at his workplace, Portna Fisheries, Kilrea, County Derry

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 16 August 1991

Martin O’Prey,   (28)

Catholic
Status: Irish People’s Liberation Organisation (IPLO),

Killed by: Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)
Shot at his home, Ardmoulin Terrace, Lower Falls, Belfast.

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