Provisional IRA Honey Trap killings

IRA Honey Trap killings
Part of the Troubles
Provisional IRA Honey Trap killings is located in Northern Ireland
Provisional IRA Honey Trap killings
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Location of the killings
LocationAntrim Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Coordinates54°36′40″N 5°55′56″W / 54.611111°N 5.932222°W / 54.611111; -5.932222
Date23 March 1973
21:00 GMT
Attack type
shooting
WeaponsThompson submachine gun, pistol
Deaths3 off-duty British soldiers
Injured1
PerpetratorProvisional IRA
Provisional IRA Belfast Brigade

The Provisional IRA Honey Trap killings occurred on 23 March 1973. Volunteers from the Provisional IRA's (IRA) Belfast Brigade shot dead three off-duty soldiers from the British Army who had been lured to a house by two females on the Antrim Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A fourth soldier survived the shooting.[1][2]

Background

In March 1971, three off-duty Scottish soldiers were shot dead in a so-called honeytrap. The men were persuaded to leave a bar by a female IRA operative who said she would take them to a party, and later killed by a roadside. This was the first time off-duty soldiers had been killed during The Troubles.[3][4]

The killings of the three Scottish soldiers increased Unionist support for internment without trial, which was eventually introduced in August 1971 as Operation Demetrius. However, instead of decreasing violence, violence increased tenfold and support for the IRA grew stronger as the army and government reacted more harshly.[5]

Killings

About a week before the killings, two females met and befriended four British Army sergeants in a Belfast pub. The two women told the soldiers, who were stationed at British Army Headquarters at Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, that they were having a party on 23 March and the six arranged to meet up.

On 23 March, the four off-duty sergeants, unarmed and in civilian clothes, met the two women at the Woodlands Hotel in Lisburn and later on that night the six drove 12 miles from Lisburn to a flat on the Antrim Road near the New Lodge area in Belfast, where the supposed party was taking place. The flat had food and drink laid out inside to allay any suspicions the soldiers may have had.[6] Shortly after they arrived, one girl said she was going out to bring more women back with her. The one soldier who survived the shooting said that about half an hour after they had arrived two masked gunmen burst into the flat; one had a Thompson submachine gun and the other was carrying a pistol. The soldiers were taken into a bedroom and ordered to lie face down on a bed as the gunmen fired shots into their heads one at a time. Two of the sergeants died instantly, one died a few hours later in hospital and one survived, despite serious injuries to his spine as well as having part of his tongue and jaw shot off.[6]

Aftermath

Later that night, Loyalists shot dead a 28-year-old man outside his house in Durham Street, Belfast, from a passing car.[7][6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1973".
  2. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths".
  3. ^ Peter Taylor, Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein p.110
  4. ^ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1971".
  5. ^ Peter Taylor, Behind The Mask: The IRA & Sinn Fein pp.113–115
  6. ^ a b c "3 Soldiers Slain in Belfast Tryst". New York Times. 25 March 1973. p. 8.
  7. ^ "CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths".