50 years on from Kingsmill, both Britain and the IRA have questions to answer |
Fifty years ago, on January 5 1976, republicans calling themselves the ‘South Armagh Republican Action Force’ stopped a minibus of textile workers on their way home from work on the Kingsmill Road near Whitecross in Co Armagh.
In a nakedly sectarian attack, they asked which among the workers was Catholic.
After the one Catholic man was told to “make himself scarce”, the remaining 11 men were shot. All died except one, Alan Black.
As with the brutal loyalist murders of members of the Reavey and O’Dowd families nearby the previous night, many questions remain unanswered to this day about who exactly was responsible for the atrocities in south Armagh in January 1976.
Denis Bradley: Informers, the dirty war and the realities of revealing ‘the truth’
Cormac Moore: 50 years on from Kingsmill, both Britain and the IRA have questions to answer
People in the area had been in a heightened state of anxiety on Monday January 5 after two Catholic families – the Reaveys of Whitecross and the O’Dowds of Ballydougan – were targeted by loyalists from the Glennane gang the previous evening.
Brothers John Martin (24) and Brian Reavey (22) died at the scene after gunmen opened fire as they watched television in their home.
Their 17-year-old brother Anthony, who was badly wounded in the attack, looked to be recovering after being discharged from hospital, but tragically suffered a relapse........