Northern Ireland

Inquest into British Army killing of three IRA men in Coagh opens

IRA man Pete Ryan was one of three republicans killed in an ambush in Coagh, Co Tyrone, in 1991
IRA man Pete Ryan was one of three republicans killed in an ambush in Coagh, Co Tyrone, in 1991 IRA man Pete Ryan was one of three republicans killed in an ambush in Coagh, Co Tyrone, in 1991

A British army ambush that resulted in the deaths of three IRA men came after intelligence was received by RUC Special Branch, an inquest has heard.

East Tyrone IRA members Pete Ryan, Lawrence McNally and Tony Doris were shot dead in the village of Coagh in June 1991 in an operation believed to involve the SAS.

An inquest into their deaths opened in Banbridge yesterday - more than 31 years after they were killed - and is expected to last six weeks.

In 1981 Mr Ryan was one of eight republicans who escaped from Crumlin Road Prison.

Mr McNally's brother Phelim was shot dead by loyalists at the home of his brother at Ballinderry, near Coagh, in November 1988.

The three experienced IRA men are believed to have been planning to shoot a UDR man when the ambush was launched.

During yesterday's hearing, presiding coroner Mr Justice Humphreys heard that in advance of the killings RUC Special Branch had received "limited intelligence" that the IRA had planned to kill an off duty UDR member and "forewarned an operation was mounted in Coagh village".

The court heard that the intended target's own vehicle was driven to the village and parked by a member of a "specialist military unit involved in the operation".

The driver then got out of the car and began to read a newspaper.

The inquest was told that four other members of the same "specialist military unit" were positioned in a Bedford lorry "which had been adapted to conceal the soldiers".

"Other soldiers were strategically positioned at various locations near the lorry," the court heard.

The coroner heard that a car with three masked men arrived in the area and one of the occupants "was seen by soldiers to have been attempting to aim at the direction of the soldier who had parked the vehicle when the car and its occupants were engaged by the soldiers concealed in the Bedford lorry."

The car, a Vauxhall Cavalier, then drove off and crashed into a nearby parked vehicle.

Two of the IRA men then climbed from the vehicle and were fired on by other British soldiers "who had been in the vicinity of the Bedford lorry."

Both the Cavalier and other vehicle burst into flames and were burnt out.

The court was told the three victims were "burnt beyond recognition" and later identified by dental records.

Several eyewitness statements read to the court reveal how local people were awakened on the morning of the ambush by gunfire.

The maroon Vauxhall Cavalier the IRA men were travelling in had earlier been hijacked in the nearby Loup area after a family was held hostage by armed and masked men.