30 March 2000 Edition
Back issue: IRA ambush stings Brit assassins
IN ONE of the most daring and ingenious operations ever carried out by the IRA in the Six Counties, the Tyrone Brigade inflicted a major defeat on British forces last weekend, when a planned massacre of members of Óglaigh na hÉireann was dramatically reversed.
News of the ambush in Cappagh, County Tyrone, was blacked out of the media as the RUC sought to cover up what was for them nothing short of a disaster, but the IRA remained adamant that its ambush of British undercover operatives had resulted in two enemy deaths.
In a statement, the Tyrone Brigade said it had killed two undercover British operatives in a carefully planned ambush in the tiny village of Cappagh on Saturday 24 March. The claim has been denied by the RUC and in days after the gun battle, they successfully prevented the truth getting out.
But AP/RN has obtained exclusive details of the ambush based on IRA statements and local eyewitness accounts. They reveal that a British plan to lead the IRA into an ambush was anticipated by the IRA and that the British forces were themselves caught in a trap when two of a large number of undercover agents involved in the crown forces operation were isolated and successfully engaged by the Volunteers.
Due to the bravery and ingenuity of the Volunteers of Tyrone Brigade, the British plans for another undercover assassination went seriously wrong.
News of the ambush in Cappagh, County Tyrone, was blacked out of the media as the RUC sought to cover up what was for them nothing short of a disaster, but the IRA remained adamant that its ambush of British undercover operatives had resulted in two enemy deaths.
In a statement, the Tyrone Brigade said it had killed two undercover British operatives in a carefully planned ambush in the tiny village of Cappagh on Saturday 24 March. The claim has been denied by the RUC and in days after the gun battle, they successfully prevented the truth getting out.
But AP/RN has obtained exclusive details of the ambush based on IRA statements and local eyewitness accounts. They reveal that a British plan to lead the IRA into an ambush was anticipated by the IRA and that the British forces were themselves caught in a trap when two of a large number of undercover agents involved in the crown forces operation were isolated and successfully engaged by the Volunteers.
Due to the bravery and ingenuity of the Volunteers of Tyrone Brigade, the British plans for another undercover assassination went seriously wrong.