The Loughinisland massacreO'Brien, Brendan. The Long War: The IRA and Sinn Féin. Syracuse University Press, 1999. p. 314.Elliott, Sydney. Conflict in Northern Ireland: an encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 1999. p. 350.Sluka, Jeffrey. Death Squad: The Anthropology of State Terror. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000. p. 141.Cusack, Jim. UVF. Poolbeg, 1997. p. 317. took place on 18 June 1994 in the village of Loughinisland, County Down, Northern Ireland. Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group, burst into a pub with assault rifles and fired on the customers,"The UVF's catalogue of atrocities" . BBC News. 18 June 2009. killing six civilians and wounding five. The pub was targeted because it was frequented mainly by Catholics,The Economist newspaper. 25 June 1994. pp. 25–26. "For the 24 fans gathered in Heights Bar in the quiet village of Loughinisland in County Down, the cheering was followed by carnage. Two men walked into the pub and sprayed the room with bullets, killing six and wounding five, and then fled laughing. The Ulster Volunteer Force, a Protestant terrorist group, later claimed it had carried out the attack. It chose the pub only because it knew that those gathered to support Ireland's team would be Catholic". and was crowded with people watching the Republic of Ireland play against Italy in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. It is thus sometimes called the "World Cup massacre"."Six shot dead in Ulster World Cup massacre" . The Independent. 19 June 1994."1994 World Cup massacre of Irish fans by Loyalists will be major ESPN movie" . IrishCentral. 12 January 2014. The UVF claimed the attack was retaliation for the killing of three UVF members by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) two days before.
There have been allegations that police (Royal Ulster Constabulary) double agents or informers in the UVF were linked to the massacre and that police protected those informers by destroying evidence and failing to carry out a proper investigation."RUC informers 'knew about Loughinisland shootings'" . The Observer. 13 September 2009. At the request of the victims' families, the Police Ombudsman investigated the police. In 2011 the Ombudsman concluded that there were major failings in the police investigation, but no evidence that police colluded with the UVF. The Ombudsman did not investigate the role of informers and the report was branded a whitewash. The Ombudsman's own investigators demanded to be disassociated from it. The report was quashed, the Ombudsman replaced and a new inquiry was ordered."Loughinisland massacre: Court quashes Police Ombudsman report" . BBC News, 20 December 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
In 2016, a new Ombudsman report concluded that there had been collusion between the police and the UVF, and that the investigation was undermined by the wish to protect informers, but found no evidence police had foreknowledge of the attack."Loughinisland: Ombudsman confirms collusion between police and loyalist killers" . BBC News, 9 June 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2016. Two documentary films about the massacre, Ceasefire Massacre and No Stone Unturned, were released in 2014 and 2017 respectively. The latter named the main suspects, one of whom was a serving member of the British Army, and claimed that one of the suspects was an informer.
Background The UVF emerged in the late 1960s, at the beginning of the thirty-year conflict known as the Troubles. The UVF's claimed goal was to fight Irish republicanism – particularly the Irish Republican Army (IRA) – and maintain Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom.Country Reports on Terrorism: 2004. State Department, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. p. 128 Most of its victims were innocent Catholic civilians, who were often killed at random. Whenever it claimed responsibility for attacks, the UVF usually claimed that those targeted were IRA members or were helping the IRA.Kentucky New Era, 14 April 1992 Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since the IRA drew almost all of its support from the Catholic population.
Since the 1970s, the UVF had carried out many gun and bomb attacks on Catholic-owned pubs and there had been many incidents of collusion between the UVF and members of the state security forces. During the early 1990s, loyalists drastically increased their attacks on Catholics and Irish nationalists and – for the first time since the conflict began – were responsible for more deaths than republicans or the security forces."Johnny Adair: Feared Loyalist Leader", BBC News, 6 July 2000. Retrieved on 27 February 2007.
On 16 June 1994, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) killed three UVF members – Trevor King, Colin Craig and David Hamilton – in a drive-by shooting on the Shankill Road in Belfast. Senior UVF members had been meeting in a building nearby. According to one senior member, after this attack the UVF called on its members to retaliate, for there to be "blood on the streets" and to "kill any Catholic" they could.2nd Police Ombudsman's report . 9 June 2016. p.81 The following day, the UVF launched two "retaliatory" attacks. In the first, UVF members shot dead a Catholic civilian taxi driver in Carrickfergus. In the second, they shot dead two Protestant civilians in Newtownabbey, whom they believed were Catholics. The Loughinisland shootings, a day later, are believed to have been further retaliation.
Pub attack
On the evening of 18 June 1994, about 24 people were gathered in The Heights Bar (also known as O'Toole's Pub) watching the Republic of Ireland vs Italy in the FIFA World Cup.
At 10:10 p.m., two UVF members wearing boiler suits and balaclavas walked into the bar. One shouted "Fenian bastards!" and opened fire on the crowd with a vz. 58 assault rifle,2nd Police Ombudsman's report . 9 June 2016. p.8 spraying the small room with more than sixty bullets.McKittrick, David. Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who Died as a Result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Random House, 2001. p. 1367 Six men were killed outright, and five other people were wounded. Witnesses said the gunmen then ran to a getaway car, "laughing". One described "bodies … lying piled on top of each other on the floor". The dead were Adrian Rogan (34), Malcolm Jenkinson (52), Barney Green (87), Daniel McCreanor (59), Patrick O'Hare (35) and Eamon Byrne (39), all Catholic civilians. O'Hare was the brother-in-law of Eamon Byrne and Green was one of the oldest people to be killed during the Troubles.
The UVF claimed responsibility within hours of the attack. It claimed that an Irish republican meeting was being held in the pub and that the shooting was retaliation for the INLA attack.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p. 11 Police said there is no evidence the pub had links to republican paramilitary activity, and said the attack was purely sectarian.2nd Police Ombudsman's report . 9 June 2016. p.2 Journalist Peter Taylor wrote in his book Loyalists that the attack may not have been sanctioned by the UVF leadership.Taylor, Peter (1999). Loyalists. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. p.230 Police intelligence indicates that the order to retaliate came from the UVF leadership and that its 'Military Commander' had supplied the rifle used.2nd Police Ombudsman's report . 9 June 2016. p.82 Police believe the attack was carried out by a local UVF unit under the command of a senior member who reported to the leadership in Belfast.
The attack received international media coverage and was widely condemned. Among those who sent messages of sympathy were Pope John Paul II, Queen Elizabeth II and US President Bill Clinton. Local Protestant families visited their wounded neighbours in the hospital, expressing their shock and disgust.
Aftermath The massacre ultimately led to a temporary return to tit-for-tat violence.McDonald and Cusack, pp. 259–70 The following month, the IRA shot dead three high-ranking members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), the other main loyalist paramilitary group alongside the UVF. It is claimed this was retaliation for the Loughinisland massacre.H. McDonald & J. Cusack (2004) UDA –Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, p. 269Brian Feeney, Sinn Féin: A Hundred Turbulent Years, Dublin: O'Brien Press, 2002, pp. 406–407Biblio Country Reports, Issue 3. Commission of the European Communities. Library (Brussels, Belgium), p. 44 The IRA stated that the men were directing the UDA's campaign of violence against Catholics.McDonald & Cusack, p. 313
On 11 July the IRA shot dead Ray Smallwoods, a member of the UDA's Inner Council and spokesman for its political wing, the Ulster Democratic Party. Six days later, UDA gunmen tried to repeat the Loughinisland massacre when they attacked the Hawthorn Inn in nearby Annaclone. About 40 people were inside watching the football World Cup final. The pub's thick doors had been locked and so the gunmen instead fired through the windows, wounding seven people."Publican averted Ulster massacre" . The Independent. 19 July 1994. On 31 July, the IRA shot dead UDA commander Joe Bratty and his right-hand man Raymond Elder.
Investigation and campaign by victims' families The morning after the attack, the getaway car — a red Triumph Acclaim — was found abandoned in a field near Crossgar.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p.3 On 4 August, the assault rifle used in the attack was found hidden at a bridge near Saintfield along with a holdall containing boiler suits, balaclavas, gloves, three handguns and ammunition.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p.20
The first arrests were made on 18 July 1994, a month after the attack, when six men were arrested as suspects under the terrorism laws. Two of them were re-arrested on 22 August, along with a further suspect. All were released without charge for lack of evidence.2nd Police Ombudsman's report . 9 June 2016. pp. 119–121
In 2006, following claims that "an RUC agent" had supplied the getaway car to the gunmen, the victims' families lodged an official complaint about the investigation with the Police Ombudsman. The complaint included allegations "that the investigation had not been efficiently or properly carried out; no earnest effort was made to identify those responsible; and there were suspicions of state collusion in the murders". It was alleged that police agents or informers within the UVF were linked to the attack, and that the police's investigation was hindered by its desire to protect those informers. The victims' families also alleged that the police had failed to keep in contact with them about the investigation, even about significant developments.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. pp.4–5
It was revealed that the police had destroyed key evidence and documents. The car had been disposed of in April 1995, ten months into the investigation.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p. 17 In 1998, police documents related to the investigation were destroyed at Gough Barracks RUC station, allegedly because of fears they were contaminated by asbestos. It is believed they included the original notes, made during interviews of suspects in 1994 and 1995.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p.28 A hair follicle had been recovered from the car but nobody had yet been charged, while the other items (balaclavas, gloves, etc.) had not been subjected to new tests made possible by advances in forensic science. It was alleged that the rifle used in the attack had been part of a shipment smuggled into Northern Ireland for loyalists by British agent Brian Nelson.1st Police Ombudsman's report . 24 June 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2013. p.21