| Dungannon land mine attack | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theTroubles andOperation Banner | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Provisional IRA |  British Army | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| East Tyrone Brigade | 16th Regiment Royal Artillery | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 1 mobile patrol | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| None | 4 killed, 1 vehicle destroyed | ||||||
  Location within Northern Ireland | |||||||
In theDungannon land mine attack of 16 December 1979, theProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) ambushed twoBritish Army Land Rovers with animprovised land mine outsideDungannon,County Tyrone,Northern Ireland. Four British soldiers were killed in the attack.[1]
Since the beginning ofits campaign in 1970, the Provisional IRA had carried out many improvised landmine and roadside bomb attacks on British forces in the region. In September 1972, three British soldiers were killed when their armoured vehicle was blown up by an IRA land mine at Sanaghanroe, near Dungannon.[2] In March 1974, two IRA members were killed on the Aughnacloy Road near Dungannon when the landmine they were planting exploded prematurely.[3]
On 27 August 1979, the IRA killed 18 British soldiers with roadside bombs in theWarrenpoint ambush in southCounty Down; the deadliest attack on British troops during the conflict.[4]
On 16 December 1979, two armoured British Army Land Rovers were driving along Ballygawley Road, about two miles outside Dungannon.[5] A unit of the IRA had planted a 600–1,000-pound (270–450 kg)[6] improvised landmine in aculvert under the road at Glenadush.[5] When the second vehicle reached the culvert,[5] the landmine was detonated by remote control.[6][7] It blew the vehicle into the air and killed four soldiers from theRoyal Regiment of Artillery outright: William Beck (23),[8] Keith Richards (22), Simon Evans (19),[9] and Allan Ayrton (23).[10][5]
