List of weapons used by the Irish National Liberation Army

List of weapons used by the Irish National Liberation Army during The Troubles (1969–1997).

Sources

Obtaining arms was one of the greatest difficulties faced by the INLA in its early years. Their Marxism made them beyond help from Catholic Irish-America, who had traditionally been a lifeline for funds and weapons for Irish republicans engaged in armed struggle. At a time when the Provisional IRA seemed replete with Armalites, the INLA was mainly armed with shotguns, which the rank and file wryly took to calling "Costello-ites" after their leader. The INLA's main source of arms early on was from sympathizers in the Middle East, from where they imported a contingent of AK-pattern rifles in 1978 and later much larger shipments of arms via a French contact.Fortnight Magazine, Issue 195, p. 7-8. Fortnight Publications, 1983.

Small arms

ModelImageCaliberTypeOriginDetails PistolsPA63 9×18mm Makarov Pistol The Starry Plough – March/April 1999 . Page 10-11.Walther PPK 9×17mm Short (.380 ACP) Pistol Stolen from an off-duty Royal Irish Regiment soldier's car in Dublin in 1994.Sunday Life 13 July 1997. RiflesLee–Enfield .303 British Bolt action rifle Used in a sniper attack as late as 1989.Sunday Life 12 November 1989.M1 Garand .30-06 Springfield Semi-automatic rifle Ruger Mini-14 5.56×45mm NATO Semi-automatic rifle SKS 7.62×39mm Semi-automatic rifle Springfield Armory M1A 7.62×51mm NATO Semi-automatic rifle Assault riflesAK-47 7.62×39mm Assault rifle M16 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle CAR-15 Commando 5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle Imported around 1985.Sig 540 5.56×45mm NATOAssault RifleReportedly taken from an INLA arms cache by the IRA in 1984."'Terrorist arsenal' find", Derry Journal, 25 September 1984. Also reported in the possession of the INLA in Newry in 1986.Belfast Telegraph 8 September 1986. "Swiss-made automatic weapon" reportedly used in attack on UDR soldier in Armagh in 1987.RK 62 .223 Remington/5.56×45mm NATO Assault rifle Several smuggled into Ireland in late 1984Belfast Newsletter, 14 January 1985. and used in several INLA attacks, including abortive assassination attempt targeting Ian Paisley.Irish Independent, 14 January 1985.Belfast Telegraph, 21 May 1990. A single example seen at INLA funeral in 2019. Possible civilian version with long barrel and different muzzle brake, chambered in .223/5.56. Submachine gunsM3 submachine gun .45 ACP Submachine Gun Sterling submachine gun 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun Uzi 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun Škorpion vz. 61 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun MP5 9×19mm Parabellum Submachine Gun Stolen from a Royal Ulster Constabulary vehicle in May 2000.

References