From the statement released by the families:
”In all 21 innocent people were murdered between December 19, 1975 and January 5, 1976 in this series of linked incidents. The attacks in Silverbridge, in Dundalk and on the Reavey and O’Dowd households have been the subject of judicial inquiries by Justice Barron resulting in Dáil scrutiny; a current focused investigation (in the case of the northern incidents) by the Historical Enquiries Team; and ongoing litigation in the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg. These attacks were carried out and co-ordinated by a gang based at Glenanne in S. Armagh. We have met with members of the Glenanne gang including former RUC officers and with RUC officers who investigated the group. The above allows us to comment on this period with a degree of accuracy and certainty that was denied us in the immediate aftermath of these murders.
”We totally reject the British Army description of these events as a “feud” between S. Armagh PIRA and N. Armagh UVF for the following reasons;
”This gang was made up of members of the British Army, the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries run by Military Intelligence and/or RUC Special Branch. The ballistic histories of the weapons used in these incidents allows us to state with absolute certainty that these incidents were linked to other alleged ‘loyalist’ attacks carried out both before and after this period including the Miami Showband massacre and the RUC SPG gun and bomb attack on the Rock Bar, Keady. The main instigators of these attacks were serving RUC officers and UDR members. A number of the attacks were carried out while the individuals were ‘on duty’ and/or were using official RUC and UDR uniforms and RUC vehicles.
“Access to police and army radios facilitated escape while some of the murders carried out by this gang were on occasion ‘investigated’ by RUC officers linked to the very same gang. State agents such as Robin Jackson, aka The Jackal, carried out a number of the attacks including the murders at the O’Dowd home. A number of people in positions of authority within the criminal justice, intelligence and policing institutions were aware that Jackson and other state agents were involved in murders in collusion with members of the RUC and British Army.
”We no longer regard these incidents as ‘loyalist’ attacks but rather as part of a security force inspired ‘dirty war’ aimed at terrorising the Catholic/Nationalist community into isolating the IRA. At least 120 deaths can be attributed to the Glenanne Gang, including the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, yet their activities were allowed to continue for several years. Given the extent to which the security forces were aware of these activities, the degree to which members of the security forces were themselves central to these activities and the appalling response of the criminal justice system we are left in no doubt that these activities were officially tolerated. Equally we believe that there were individual RUC officers, not connected to Special Branch, who tried to uphold the law but were blocked from carrying out investigations.
”There was no feud between the S Armagh PIRA and N Armagh UVF. These were not tit-for-tat sectarian killings. Indeed we are convinced that those who planned and instigated the attacks on December 19 and on January 4 intended to provoke a bloody and ever escalating response – the Kingsmill Massacre by republicans. In the climate of crisis which followed the Dec 19 – Jan 5 killings, a series of security measures were announced which would have been politically unacceptable just weeks beforehand.
“The British army Spearhead battalion was transferred to the border area and it was announced that the SAS would be deployed to S. Armagh, the first official confirmation that the SAS was to be deployed on Irish soil. The then PM Harold Wilson declared all of Armagh a Special Emergency Area and the file of the same name remains closed at the National Archive in London. In the Republic the Cosgrave Government reacted to the crisis by promising extensive security cooperation with their Northern counterparts.
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Originally Posted by Cael
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