| Downpatrick landmine attack | |
|---|---|
| Part ofthe Troubles | |
  Downpatrick landmine attack (Northern Ireland) | |
| Location | 54°19′19.2″N5°42′10.8″W / 54.322000°N 5.703000°W /54.322000; -5.703000 Ballydugan Road,Downpatrick,County Down,Northern Ireland |
| Date | 9 April 1990 |
| Target | Ulster Defence Regiment |
Attack type | Improvisedland mine |
| Deaths | 4 soldiers |
| Injured | 4 soldiers, 1 civilian |
| Perpetrator | Provisional IRA |
On 9 April 1990, the South Down Brigade of theProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated a massiveimprovisedland mine under aBritish Army convoy outsideDownpatrick,County Down,Northern Ireland. Four soldiers of theUlster Defence Regiment (UDR) were killed,[1] the regiment's greatest loss of life since 1983.
The Provisional IRA had been attacking British Army patrols and convoys with landmines and roadside bombs since the beginning ofits campaign in the early 1970s. The deadliest attack was theWarrenpoint ambush of August 1979, when 18 soldiers were killed by two large roadside bombs nearWarrenpoint, County Down.[2] In July 1983, four soldiers of the localUlster Defence Regiment (UDR) werekilled when their vehicle struck an IRA landmine nearBallygawley, County Tyrone.[3] It was the UDR's biggest loss of life up until then.
On the morning of 9 April 1990, two UDR armoured Land Rovers were travelling fromBallykinler Barracks to Downpatrick.[4] An IRA unit had planted a 1,000-pound (450 kg) improvised landmine in aculvert under the Ballydugan Road, just outside the town.[4] The unit waited in woodland overlooking the road, about 350 ft (110 m) away.[4] As the Land Rovers drove over the culvert, the IRA detonated the bomb by command wire.[4] The huge blast blew the vehicle into a field and gouged a large crater in the road, 50 ft (15 m) wide and 15 ft (5 m) deep.[4] A witness described "a scene of utter carnage".[4] Four soldiers were killed: Michael Adams (23), John Birch (28), John Bradley (25), and Steven Smart (23).[4] It was the biggest loss of life suffered by the UDR since the 1983 Ballygawley landmine attack.[5] The soldiers in the other Land Rover suffered severe shock and were airlifted to hospital.[5] Police said a civilian driver also suffered shock and another received cuts and bruises.[6]
The bombers escaped on a motorcycle which had been stolen in Newry a week earlier, and was later found abandoned in the Flying Horse Estate in Downpatrick. The IRA issued a statement saying the attack was carried out by members of its South Down Brigade.[5]
British Prime Minister,Margaret Thatcher, said on BBC radio:You take these murders of these four people today alongside those decisions in the Supreme Court of theRepublic not toextradite those accused of violent crime - and one is very, very depressed.[5]Charles Haughey, theTaoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, condemned the attack as an "atrocity".[6]
A 23 year-old man was later sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attack. He had driven a scout car for the bombers when it was planted the day before the attack.[7]