In the early days of February 1973 at 11:00pm a car sped into New Lodge from the Shankill road and opened fire on Lynch's bar, killing two IRA volunteers, the same car then opened fire on a nearby Chinese restaurant and injured civilians.
The British Saracen nearby did not intervene even though the car drove past it, pointing to a possibly it might have been a British military op by MI5 and related elements.
Soon afterwards British snipers equipped with nitesights opened fire, residents that had gathered around were being shot at and quickly dispersed.
The British army was firing from Duncairn Gardens down Edlingham Street and from the top of Templar and Alamein Flats
Tony Campbell returning from his birthday party was shot dead in the gunfire. Brendan raced over to help the man and was promptly gunned down by crown forces. Civilians dashed for cover as the hail of British bullets continued. As the fire coming from the troops lessened Ambrose dashed out into the street waving a white hanky (like bloody sunday) and was shot dead by the soldiers. He was shot in the dead by snipers.
The British claimed to have returned rounds at gunmen. Despite these claims the men were found to be unarmed and there were no shell casings found by the men. It's unlikely that they were IRA members as the Provisionals always claimed their members when they were killed.
The Provisional IRA did engage the troops later on that day in retaliation.
So my question is does anyone here have any insight on what happened that day? Why did the trained men decide to just start slotting civilians going about the streets after a hail of gunfire directed at civilians by a loyalist or military drive-by shooting in the area and claim to hit gunmen?
One IRA member was also killed by the army but he was not armed or on active service at the time he was outside like the other civilians that had been killed.
This is not a wind up thread I'm just wondering if any of you have any information from speaking to people in the area during the shootings or from being there yourselves, or any reasonable speculation based on the experience you have in the crown forces.
The British Saracen nearby did not intervene even though the car drove past it, pointing to a possibly it might have been a British military op by MI5 and related elements.
Soon afterwards British snipers equipped with nitesights opened fire, residents that had gathered around were being shot at and quickly dispersed.
The British army was firing from Duncairn Gardens down Edlingham Street and from the top of Templar and Alamein Flats
Tony Campbell returning from his birthday party was shot dead in the gunfire. Brendan raced over to help the man and was promptly gunned down by crown forces. Civilians dashed for cover as the hail of British bullets continued. As the fire coming from the troops lessened Ambrose dashed out into the street waving a white hanky (like bloody sunday) and was shot dead by the soldiers. He was shot in the dead by snipers.
The British claimed to have returned rounds at gunmen. Despite these claims the men were found to be unarmed and there were no shell casings found by the men. It's unlikely that they were IRA members as the Provisionals always claimed their members when they were killed.
The Provisional IRA did engage the troops later on that day in retaliation.
So my question is does anyone here have any insight on what happened that day? Why did the trained men decide to just start slotting civilians going about the streets after a hail of gunfire directed at civilians by a loyalist or military drive-by shooting in the area and claim to hit gunmen?
One IRA member was also killed by the army but he was not armed or on active service at the time he was outside like the other civilians that had been killed.
This is not a wind up thread I'm just wondering if any of you have any information from speaking to people in the area during the shootings or from being there yourselves, or any reasonable speculation based on the experience you have in the crown forces.
