Loughgall Martyrs: The eight IRA volunteers executed by the British SAS in a shoot-to-kill ambush in Loughgall
12 January, 2023 02:00
CLAIMS that close-up images of eight IRA men after they were shot dead by the SAS “decked” the wall of a British army training camp have been branded “disgusting”.
Mairead Kelly said the ghoulish act “mocked and desecrated” the dead and caused hurt to their families.
Her brother Patrick Kelly was one of eight IRA members who were killed at Loughgall on May 8 1987 as the unit attempted to launch a gun and bomb attack on the village police station.
A passing civilian was also killed in what many believe to be an SAS shoot-to-kill operation.
Claims about the images of men were made in an article in the London Times by journalist and former British soldier Anthony Loyd.
A noted war correspondent, he was stationed in the north while a serving soldier.
Writing about Prince Harry’s recent claim that he killed 25 people while fighting in Afghanistan, Mr Loyd recalled how as an infantry platoon commander in the late 1980s he attended a British army training camp in preparation for being sent to the north.
He said a wall at the camp “was decked with close-up colour photographs of the eight members of the IRA’s East Tyrone Brigade killed in an SAS ambush at Loughgall a few months earlier during an attack on a police station”.
“They had all been shot in the head, multiple times, at close range.The wounds were hideous,” he said.
He also wrote that the photos were reproduced in a training video.
“The same images of mutilation were replayed to us at the start of training videos to the soundtrack of Another One Bites the Dust,” he said.
“It was army kill-count crassness at its worst.”
Ms Kelly, who continues to campaign with other relatives for an inquest into her brother’s killing, branded the revelations as “disgusting”.
“I find it hurtful that someone needs to degrade these men and their families further,” she said.
“I can’t get into the psyche of someone who would do that.
“Killing someone is one thing but mocking them and desecrating them is something different.
“I know that has happened in different areas with different people but it does not make it right.”
In 2018 Ms Kelly also spoke out after The Irish News revealed that a former RUC member had boasted on social media how he and colleagues held “parties” in a van where several of the IRA men killed at Loughgall died.
Those claims were made on a Facebook page believed to be used by former British soldiers.
Independent councillor Barry Monteith said: “British crown forces have a long history of denigrating the memory of victims of their war crimes in countries, like Ireland, they have no right to be in. Disgusting behaviour but not surprising.”
The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.
With many thanks to the: Irish News and Connla Young for the original story.
Follow this link to to find out more on this story: MAJOR COLLUSION | How ex British Army major who leaked information to UDA terrorists leading to murder rose through army ranks
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