South Armagh Sniper (1990–1997)

The South Armagh Sniper is the generic name"At first, we believed it was one unit, one weapon and one trigger man.... It developed into at least two". A former SAS warrant officer, quoted by Harnden (Harnden 2000, p. 400). given to the members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) South Armagh Brigade who conducted a sniping campaign against the British Army from 1990 to 1997. The campaign is notable for the snipers' use of .50 BMG calibre Barrett M82 and M90 anti-materiel rifles in some of the shootings.

Origins One of the first leaders of the Provisional IRA, Seán Mac Stíofáin, supported the use of snipers in his book Memoirs of a Revolutionary and was attracted by the motto "one shot, one kill".Harnden 2000, p. 406. Most of the soldiers who were shot dead in 1972, the bloodiest year of the conflict in Northern Ireland, were killed by IRA snipers."In 1971, the Provisional IRA shot dead forty-two British soldiers. In 1972, this figure rose to sixty-four, most of them killed by snipers" (Taylor 1999, p. 132). About 180 British soldiers, Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officers were killed that way between 1971 and 1991. The Armalite AR-18 rifle became the weapon of choice for the IRA's members in that time.Taylor 1999, pp. 108–109.

The British Army's assessment of the conflict asserted that the IRA's sniping skills often did not match those expected from a well-trained sniper."Gunmen were often described as 'snipers' but very rarely did any terrorist display the skills of a properly trained sniper" (Jackson 2006, paragraph 527). The report identifies four different patterns of small arms attacks during the IRA campaign, the last being that developed by the South Armagh sniper units.Jackson 2006, paragraphs 527–530.

Sniper teams in South Armagh Rifles During the 1980s, the IRA relied mostly on weaponry smuggled from Libya.Bowyer Bell 1997, pp. 556–571.The Guardian "IRA arms decommissioned" 26 September 2005. Retrieved: 22 March 2008.The New York Times "I.R.A. Disarmament Is Complete, Commission Reports" 26 September 2005. Retrieved: 22 March 2008. The regular shipments from the United States, once the main source of arms for the republicans through the gunrunning operations of Irish immigrant and IRA veteran George Harrison, were disrupted after he was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1981.Holland 1999, pp. 93–99. The smuggling scheme suffered a further blow when the Fenit-based trawler Marita Ann, with a huge arms cache from Boston, was captured by the Irish Naval Service in 1984.Holland 1999, p. 110.

Between the mid-1980s and the 1990s, there was some small-scale activity,Harnden 2000, Chapter 10, Made in USA, pp. 353–386. leading to the purchase of US-made Barrett M82 and M90 rifles,O'Brien 1999, pp. 354–355. which became common weapons for the South Armagh snipers. According to letters seized by US federal authorities from a Dundalk IRA member, Martin Quigley, who had travelled to the US to study computing at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania,Harnden 2000, p. 366. the organisation managed to smuggle an M82 to the Republic of Ireland just before his arrest in 1989. He was part of a larger plot to import electronic devices to defeat British Army countermeasures against IRA remote-controlled bombs."One of the items the FBI was unable to seize was a Barrett Light Fifty which letters found in Quigley's apartment indicated had been successfully shipped to the Irish Republic" (Harnden 2000, p. 372).

In August 1986, another M82 had been sent in pieces from Chicago to Dublin, where the rifle was reassembled."Another Light Fifty had been pieced together in Dublin's Central Sorting Office in August 1986 after its component parts had been sent in parcels from Chicago to addresses in the Irish capital" (Harnden 2000, p. 372). At least two of the M90 rifles were bought as recently as six months after the first IRA ceasefire.Harnden 1999. It was part of a batch of two sold to Michael Suárez, a Cuban resident of Cleveland, on 27 January 1995 by a firearms dealer. Suárez later passed the weapons to an Irishman, who finally shipped the rifles, their ammunition and two telescopic sights to the Republic of Ireland.Harnden pp. 354–355. An unidentified leading figure inside the IRA sniper campaign, quoted by Toby Harnden, said:

Three of the security forces members killed in the campaign were the victims of 7.62×51mm rounds instead. Five missed shots belonged to the same kind of weapon.Harnden 200, pp. 400, 502–504 (Appendix A). Harnden recalls a Belgian FN FAL rifle recovered by the Gardaí near Inniskeen in 1998 as the possible source of these bullets.Harnden 2000, p. 400. Security sources suspected a Heckler & Koch PSG1 sniper rifle might have been used in some attacks.Sunday Life, 8 August 1993.

Shootings Victim name and rankHarnden 2000, pp. 502–505.Date LocationRifle calibre usedPaul Turner, private28 August 1992Crossmaglen.50 BMGJonathan Reid, constable25 February 1993Crossmaglen7.62 mmLawrence Dickson, lance corporal17 March 1993Forkhill7.62 mmJohn Randall, private26 June 1993Newtownhamilton7.62 mmKevin Pullin, lance corporal17 July 1993Crossmaglen.50 BMGBrian Woods, constable2 November 1993Newry.50 BMGPaul Garret, lance bombardier2 December 1993Keady.50 BMGDaniel Blinco, guardsman30 December 1993Crossmaglen.50 BMGStephen Restorick, lance bombardier12 February 1997Bessbrook.50 BMG

Contrary to the first British Army assessment and the speculation of the press,Stubblefield 1994, p. 232. there was not just a single sniper involved. According to Harnden, there were two different teams,"Two PIRA ASUs were involved and, although there were some long distance shoots using the Barrett, the majority of engagements were at a range of 200 – 300 m using a 7.62 mm rifle" (Operation Banner report. Paragraph 529). one responsible for the east part of South Armagh, around Dromintee, the other for the west, in the area surrounding Cullyhanna.Harnden 2000, pp. 400 & 404. The volunteer in charge of the Cullyhanna unit was Frank "One Shot" McCabe, a senior IRA member from Crossmaglen.Harnden 2000, p. 407.

Each team comprised at least four members, not counting those in charge of support activities, such as scouting for targets and driving vehicles. Military officials claim that the Dromintee-based squad deployed up to 20 volunteers in some of the sniping missions.Harnden 2000, p. 404. The teams made good use of dead ground to conceal themselves from British observation posts."The attacks, which were carefully mounted to use dead ground away from the Army's matrix of observation posts targeted security forces on their likely movement routes near bases and vehicle checkpoints" (Operation Banner report. Paragraph 529).

The sniper attack on a checkpoint at Newry killed Constable Brian Woods and was officially reported in an IRA South Down Brigade statement, but a high-profile IRA member from Dromintee, identified by Toby Harnden as a South Armagh Brigade volunteer known as "The Surgeon", was identified by the author as the mastermind behind the shooting.

Between 1990 and 1997, 24 shots were fired at British forces. The first eight operations (1990–1992), ended in misses. On 16 March 1990, the Barrett M82 was used for the first time by the IRA. The target was a checkpoint defended by soldiers of The Light Infantry regiment on Castleblaney Road. A single .50 round pierced the helmet and skimmed the skull of Lance Corporal Hartsthorne, who survived with minor head injuries.Jackson, Mike (2006).Operation Banner: An Analysis of Military Operations in Northern Ireland. MoD, Army Code 71842. Chapter 2, p. 16, item 247Harnden 2000, p. 392. In August 1992, one team mortally wounded a Light Infantry soldier. By April 1997, seven soldiers and two policemen had been killed. An RUC constable almost lost one of his legs in the last sniper attack during the Troubles.

Another six rounds achieved nothing, but two of them narrowly missed the patrol boat HMS Cygnet, in Carlingford Lough and another holed Borucki sangar, a British Army outpost in Crossmaglen square. On 31 July 1993 at 10:00 pm a British Army patrol which had set up a mobile checkpoint on Newry Road, near Newtownhamilton, was fired at by an IRA sniper team. The British soldiers returned fire, but there were no casualties on either side.Sniper attack leads to security search: Police fear armed IRA team at work on border, The Irish Independent, 2 August 1993 The marksman usually fired from a distance of less than 300 m, despite the 1 km effective range of the rifles. Sixteen operations were carried out from the rear of a vehicle, with the sniper protected by an armour plate in case the patrols returned fire.Harnden 2000, p. 403. At least in one incident, after the killing of a soldier in Forkhill on 17 March 1993, had the British Army fire back at the sniper's vehicle without effect.McKittrick, Kelters, Feeney & Thornton 2000, p. 1314. The IRA vehicles were escorted by scout cars, to alert about the presence of security checkpoints ahead.

Two different sources include in the campaign two incidents that happened outside South Armagh; one in Belcoo, County Fermanagh, where a constable was killed,"Over the 15-month period from August 1992 to December 1993, six soldiers and three RUC constables were killed by single shot attacks in South Armagh (often described by the media as 'Bandit Country') and Fermanagh" (Operation Banner report, paragraph 529). the other in West Belfast, which resulted in the death of a British soldier.Harnden 2000, p. 392. The IRA Belfast Brigade claimed that the latter incident actually involved two shooters, who fired 28 rounds from assault rifles on a British Army vehicle. An RUC investigation after the Belfast ambush led to the discovery of one Barrett M82, hidden in a derelict house. It was later determined that this rifle was the weapon responsible for the first killing in South Armagh in 1992."The rifle used in the (August 1992) attack was thought to have been one of those made and sold legitimate in Texas by Ron Freshour, a former Barrett employee, and later bought by the IRA. Stamped with the word 'Tejas' –Spanish for Texas- on the butt, it was fired in west Belfast in June 1993 and seized a month later during an RUC search of a vacant house" (Harnden 2000, p. 392). Another Barrett is reported to have been in possession of the IRA team in the Occupation of Cullaville in South Armagh in April 1993.

A third unrelated sniper attack, which resulted in the death of a British soldier, was carried out by the IRA in the New Lodge, North Belfast, on 3 August 1992. Two other soldiers were wounded by snipers in the New Lodge, which was suitable for sniper attacks because of the number of high-rise flats in the area, in November 1993Fortnight, Issues 324–334, Fortnight Publications, 1994. and January 1994. Two people were arrested and a loaded rifle recovered in the aftermath of the latter incident.Peter Heathwood Collection of television programs: 1994. Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) On 30 December 1993, Guardsman Daniel Blinco became the last soldier killed by snipers in South Armagh before the first IRA ceasefire in 1994.Harnden 2000, pp. 409–410.

His killing, along with the reaction of the MP of his constituency, was covered by the BBC's Inside Ulster, which also showed Blinco's abandoned helmet and the hole that was made by the sniper's bullet on the wall of a bar. The tabloid press of the time started calling the sniper 'Goldfinger' or 'Terminator', the nicknames current in Crossmaglen's bars. The last serviceman killed by snipers at South Armagh, Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, was also the last British soldier to die by hostile fire during the Troubles, on 12 February 1997. Restorick's killing resulted in a public outcry. Gerry Adams called his death "tragic" and wrote a letter of condolence to his mother.English 2005, p. 293.Moloney 2003, p. 473.

Caraher team captured