Garryhinch ambush: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox civilian attack |
{{Infobox civilian attack |
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| title = Garryhinch |
| title = Garryhinch booby-trap bombing |
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| partof = [[The Troubles]] |
| partof = [[The Troubles]] |
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| image = File:Near Portarlington, County Laois - geograph.org.uk - 1815831.jpg |
| image = File:Near Portarlington, County Laois - geograph.org.uk - 1815831.jpg |
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| caption = Laois Offaly border |
| caption = Laois Offaly border where the ambush happened |
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|relief = yes |
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On 16 October 1976, a house that was booby-trapped by the [[Provisional IRA]] exploded at Garryhinch on the [[Laois]] [[Offaly]] [[border]]. The bomb exploded while garda Michael Clerkin was inside, the blast killing him instantly as the house collapsed in on top of him and seriously injuring four other |
On 16 October 1976, a house that was booby-trapped by the [[Provisional IRA]] exploded at Garryhinch on the [[Laois]] [[Offaly]] [[border]]. The bomb exploded while [[Garda Síochána|garda]] Michael Clerkin was inside, the blast killing him instantly as the house collapsed in on top of him and seriously injuring four other gardaí who were right outside.<ref>https://www.laoistoday.ie/tag/garryhinch-bomb/</ref> |
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Revision as of 00:35, 4 June 2018
| Garryhinch booby-trap bombing | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
 Laois Offaly border where the ambush happened | |
| Location | Garryhinch County Laois, Republic of Ireland |
| Coordinates | 54°39′43.2″N 6°57′28.8″W / 54.662000°N 6.958000°W |
| Date | 16 October 1976 (UTC) |
Attack type | Booby-Trap Bomb |
| Deaths | 1 Garda Síochána killed |
| Injured | 4 Garda Síochána babdly injured |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
On 16 October 1976, a house that was booby-trapped by the Provisional IRA exploded at Garryhinch on the Laois Offaly border. The bomb exploded while garda Michael Clerkin was inside, the blast killing him instantly as the house collapsed in on top of him and seriously injuring four other gardaí who were right outside.[1]
Bombing
On the night of 16 October 1976 the Gardaí received an anonymous telephone call stating that IRA members were at a vacant farm at Garryhinch, near Portarlington in County Laois, engaged in activity connected with a plot to target a local Fine Gael TD and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence, Oliver J. Flanagan. Clerkin with four fellow Gardaí (Detective Tom Peters, Sergeant Jim Cannon, Detective Ben Thornton, and Gerry Bohan) were dispatched to investigate the report.[2] However, the telephone call was bogus and was from the IRA itself, aimed at luring Garda officers to the farmhouse as a part of a planned ambush by the organization against the Irish Government in retaliation for its institution of the 'Emergency Powers Act' (1976), which passed into Irish Statute that same night, aimed at combating escalating paramilitary activity in the Republic of Ireland associated with the IRA's newly opened terrorist war in Ulster against the United Kingdom.[3] Arriving at the farmhouse the Garda team found it apparently unoccupied, with no one in the vicinity and its front door locked.[4] Clerkin entered the premises via an open rear window, and moving through the building finding it to be apparently deserted, opened the front door from within to admit his colleagues. The door was booby-trapped with a bomb, housed in a large used propane gas cylinder which had been dug into the ground beneath the floorboards of the farmhouse's entrance doorway, which was triggered and detonated upon the door being opened, killing Clerkin standing directly above instantly. On the building's outside all the other Garda team were also caught in the blast, Detective Peters being permanently blinded and deafened, and Gardas Cannon, Thornton, and Bohan also being wounded, the quantity of explosive utilized being of sufficient power to demolish the building.[5] Clerkin was in his 25th year.
Sources
- [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch76.htm#Oct CAIN Web Service
A Chronology of the Conflict - 1976]
References
- ^ https://www.laoistoday.ie/tag/garryhinch-bomb/
- ^ 'Gardai blown up in IRA attack in Offlay that killed colleague to be honoured for bravery today', 'Offaly Express', 8 December 2017. http://www.offalyexpress.ie/news/home/286134/gardai-blown-up-in-ira-attack-in-offlay-that-killed-a-colleague-to-be-honoured-in-offaly-today.html
- ^ Emergency Powers Act enacted
- ^ McGuiness has some nerve to run, say family of young Garda blown up by IRA murderers Daily Mail, 16 October 2011.
- ^ Garda ar La, R.T.E.1, Programme 4, 'Garda Michael Clerkin', 9 February 2009.