The South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two battalions, one around Jonesborough and another around Crossmaglen. By the 1990s, the South Armagh Brigade was thought to consist of about 40 members,[1] roughly half of them living south of the border.[2] It has allegedly been commanded since the 1970s by Thomas 'Slab' Murphy who is also alleged to be a member of the IRA's Army Council.[3] Compared to other brigades, the South Armagh IRA was seen as an 'independent republic' within the republican movement, retaining a battalion organizational structure and not adopting the cell structure the rest of the IRA was forced to adopt after repeated intelligence failures.[4]
As well as paramilitary activity, the South Armagh Brigade has also been widely accused of smuggling across the Irish border.[5] Between 1970 and 1997 the brigade was responsible for the deaths of 165 members of British security forces (123 British soldiers and 42 Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers). A further 75 civilians were killed in the area during the conflict,[6] as well as ten South Armagh Brigade members.[7] The RUC recorded 1,255 bombings and 1,158 shootings around a radius of ten miles from the geographic centre of South Armagh in the same period.[6]
^O'Brien, Brendan (1995). The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin. Syracuse Univ Pr. p. 161. ISBN 0-8156-0319-3.
^O'Brien, p. 204
^Harnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. Hodder & Stoughton. pp. 21–35. ISBN 0-340-71736-X.
^O'Brien, p. 206
^Harnden, pp. 178-179, 204-205.
^ abHarnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 11. ISBN 0-340-71736-X.
^O'Brien, p. 160
and 23 Related for: Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade information
The SouthArmaghBrigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) operated during the Troubles in south County Armagh. It was organised into two...
The Belfast Brigade of the ProvisionalIRA was the largest of the organisation's brigades, based in the city of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The nucleus...
The East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Tyrone/Monaghan Brigade was one of the most active republican...
Parliament constituency) ProvisionalIRASouthArmaghBrigade This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title SouthArmagh. If an internal link...
County Armagh. According to writers such as Ed Moloney and Richard English, it was a cover name used by some members of the ProvisionalIRASouthArmagh Brigade...
From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) conducted an armed paramilitary campaign primarily in Northern Ireland and England, aimed...
during the trial of Michael Caraher and other members of the ProvisionalIRASouthArmaghBrigade sniper team. Harnden, Toby (1999). Bandit Country. Coronet...
The Provisional Irish Republican Army (ProvisionalIRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) and informally...
an Irish volunteer in the SouthArmaghBrigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In 1976, he and two other IRA volunteers were captured while...
nature. The most prominent opposition to British rule was the ProvisionalIRASouthArmaghBrigade. On 10 March 2009, the CIRA claimed responsibility for the...
is must be a mad dog." In the late 1980s and 1990s, the ProvisionalIRASouthArmaghBrigade smuggled in a number of Barrett M82 and Barrett M90 .50 BMG...
Superintendent Bob Buchanan, were shot dead in an ambush by the ProvisionalIRASouthArmaghBrigade. Breen and Buchanan were returning from an informal cross-border...
– IRA volunteer and Staff Officer in the ProvisionalIRA'sSouthArmaghBrigade 1st Battalion, Peter Cleary was shot dead by the SAS in the south Armagh...
and security bases in Northern Ireland. The IRA called them "mobile gun platforms". The SouthArmaghBrigade made of these armed trucks their weapon of...
County Armagh, Northern Ireland. During the Troubles, at least 58 police officers and 124 soldiers were killed by the ProvisionalIRA in SouthArmagh, many...
1990) was a ProvisionalIRA volunteer and Sinn Féin member who was killed by a group of Royal Marines at a checkpoint in Cullyhanna, County Armagh, Northern...
On 17 July 1975 the SouthArmaghBrigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated an improvised bomb inside a beer keg when it was being...
the ceasefire the IRA had continued to make explosives, stockpile weapons and gather intelligence. The IRA'sSouthArmaghBrigade was tasked with planning...
on 23 September 1993. The engagement began when an IRA motorized team from the SouthArmaghBrigade attempted to ambush three helicopters lifting off from...
Global Information