Catholic priest's involvement in bombing covered up by British deep state

[Jan Klimkowski]

The context for the Claudy bombing is Operation Motorman, which was a major British military operation to "retake" the "no go areas" of what was known as Free Derry.

Both Motorman and the Claudy bombing took place on July 31, 1972.

Here are some short introductions to Operation Motorman, often interpreted through the source's particular historical lens:

From the British government's national archives:

No-go areas and Operation Motorman

Operation Motorman

The continued existence of nationalist no-go areas in Belfast and Londonderry was a serious problem for the security forces as they provided refuge for provisional IRA terrorists. At the same time, the establishment of loyalist no-go areas made a mockery of law within Ulster. The British Army had planned an operation to clear both nationalist and loyalist no-go areas, but the Westminster government held off authorising the plan, fearing heavy civilian casualties. After repeated warnings, which allowed many terrorists to move to other loyalist areas (or across the border into the republic in the case of nationalists), the operation was finally given the go-ahead.

The operation began on 31 July 1972. Thirty thousand troops were involved, including 38 regular battalion-sized formations (27 of which were infantry battalions and two armoured regiments) and 5,500 members of the Ulster Defence Regiment. The operation met with almost no resistance in either nationalist or loyalist areas.

Political attempts to end the violence
With the clearance of no-go areas and the imposition of direct rule from Westminster there was a possibility of a political solution to the troubles. On 9 December 1973, at Sunningdale in Berkshire, the British Government and the Irish Republic, together with representatives from mainstream parties in Northern Ireland, set up a Council of Ireland to provide a forum for discussions about Ulster and a power-sharing executive to replace direct rule by Westminster.

Hard-line loyalists vociferously opposed the Sunningdale Agreement. The Ulster Workers’ Council organised a seven-day general strike that saw Northern Ireland brought to a halt. The power-sharing executive collapsed on 28 May 1974 and direct rule from Westminster was re-imposed. Throughout the 1970s the level of violence generally decreased, with neither the security forces nor the nationalists able to decisively defeat each other. The situation became a stalemate.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabin...torman.htm

From the Museum of Free Derry:

HISTORY – OPERATION MOTORMAN

The introduction of internment in August 1971 lead to an upsurge in support for both wings of the IRA in Derry and within days Free Derry was again established in the city, encompassing the areas of the Bogside, Brandywell and Creggan.

Within this area both wings of the IRA, the Provisonals and the Officials, operated openly with widespread popular support, patrolling the area in armed patrols and establishing offices throughout thearea. Free Derry also served as a secure base for operations throughout the rest of the city and its existence proved a consistent embarrassment both to the Unionist government at Stormont and the British Army.

The events of Bloody Sunday, and the subsequent Widgery whitewash, reinforced the local communities alienation from the forces of the state and the IRA was further strengthened.
The events that preceded Motorman, however, did much to lessen support for the IRA within Free Derry, as did political developments elsewhere. The suspension of Stormont and the introduction of Direct Rule by Westminster in March 1972 was viewed by many as a triumph for Free Derry and a reason for bringing it to and end.

Then on the 21st May 1972 the Official IRA shot dead Ranger Best in William Street. This killing was greeted with horror by many people within derry since whilst ranger Best was a British soldier he was also a local who was in Derry on leave visiting his family. The public opposition expressed in Derry to this killing provided the opportunity for the Dublin based leadership of the Official IRA to call a ceasefire that it had already been contemplating. This was announced on the 29th May 1972.

At 4 am on the 31st July 1972 Free Derry came to an end. Thousands of British troops, supported by tanks and armoured cars, swept into the area and began dismantling the barricades with bulldozers. The IRA offered no resistance in the face of this overwhelming force, having been warned by the build up of military equipment and personnel that a major operation was being planned.

2 people, 15 year old Daniel Hegarty and IRA Volunteer Seamus Bradley were shot dead by British troops during the operation. Daniel Hegarty was shot yards from his home as he attempted to get a sight of the tanks involved in the operation, by soldiers manning a machine gun. Seamus Bradley was wounded in the leg and bled to death whilst in the custody of British soldiers.

26 companies had surrounded Free Derry, supported by specialist tanks and approximately 100 APCs.

http://www.museumoffreederry.org/history-motorman.html

Operation Motorman was a large operation carried out by the British Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The operation took place in the early hours of 31 July 1972 and its aim was to retake the "no-go areas" (areas controlled by Irish republican paramilitaries) that had been established in Belfast and Derry.

Background
The Northern Ireland riots of August 1969 marked the beginning of the conflict known as "The Troubles". As a result of the riots, Northern Ireland's two main cities—Belfast and Derry—had become more segregated than before. Many neighbourhoods became either purely Irish nationalist and republican or purely unionist and loyalist. In some places, residents and paramilitaries built barricades to seal-off and protect their neighbourhoods from incursions by "the other side", by the security forces, or both. These became known as "no-go areas".

By the end of 1971, 29 barricades were in place to block access to what was known as Free Derry; 16 of them impassable even to the British Army's one-ton armoured vehicles.[1] Many of the nationalist/republican "no-go areas" were controlled by one of the two factions of the Irish Republican Army—the Provisional IRA and Official IRA. On 29 May 1972, the Official IRA called a ceasefire[2] and vowed that it would only launch attacks in self-defence.

On 21 July 1972, in the space of 75 minutes, the Provisional IRA detonated 22 bombs in Belfast. Nine people (including two soldiers and a loyalist paramilitary) were killed and 130 were injured. This attack prompted the British Government to implement Operation Motorman, just ten days later.[2]

[edit] Preparations
Operation Motorman would be the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956.[2] In the days before 31 July, about 4,000 extra troops were brought into Northern Ireland.[2] Involved were almost 22,000 soldiers[2]—including 27 infantry and two armoured battalions—aided by 5,300 soldiers from the local Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).[3] Several Centurion AVRE demolition vehicles, derived from the Centurion tank, were used. These were the only heavy tanks to be deployed operationally by the Army in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The tanks had been transported to Northern Ireland on board the amphibious landing ship HMS Fearless, and were operated with their demolition guns pointed to the rear, covered with tarpaulins.[4]

This quick military build-up alerted the Provisional IRA and Official IRA that a major operation was being planned.[5]

[edit] The operation

A Centurion AVRE similar to those used in the operationThe operation began at about 4:00am on 31 July and lasted for a few hours. In "no-go areas" such as Free Derry, sirens were sounded by residents to alert others of the incursion.[6] The British Army used bulldozers and the Centurion AVREs to smash through and dismantle the barricades, before flooding the "no-go areas" with troops in armoured vehicles.[2][5] The Provisional IRA and Official IRA were not equipped to battle such a large force and did not attempt to hold their ground.[5] By the end of the day, Derry and Belfast had been cleared of "no-go areas", but the Army remained cautious when operating in staunchly republican districts.

[edit] Casualties
During the operation, the British Army shot four people, killing a civilian and an unarmed IRA member.

Daniel Hegarty, a 15-year-old Catholic civilian,[7] was shot along with his two cousins as they walked along Creggan Heights in Derry.[8] The boys had gone out to see the tanks and watch the operation unfold.[8] The shots were fired from close range by soldiers who had hidden themselves behind a garden fence.[8] Daniel was killed outright. In June 2007, 35 years later, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) released a document that described Daniel as a "terrorist" and claimed that he was armed. Two months later, the MoD withdrew and apologised for the document, accepting that "Daniel was innocent and that the reference to him as a terrorist was inaccurate".[9]
Seamus Bradley, a 19-year-old Provisional IRA member,[7] was shot as he climbed a tree in Bishop's Field, Derry.[10] He was shot in the leg from long range by soldiers who had hidden themselves behind a hedgerow.[10] The soldier who shot him claimed that he had been armed at the time. However, when a group of soldiers arrived to arrest him, no weapon was found.[10] Seamus was then taken away in a Saracen APC and bled to death while in the custody of British soldiers.[5]
[edit] Aftermath

A few hours after the conclusion of Operation Motorman, the Claudy bombing occurred. Nine civilians were killed when three car bombs exploded on the Main Street of Claudy village, County Londonderry. Five of the victims were Catholic and four were Protestant.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Motorman