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McGurk’s Bar bombing of 1971
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ON DECEMBER 23 1971, British soldiers were tasked to deliver a letter to all residents in a small community of North Belfast, written by the Commanding Officer of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The letter was written following the bombing of McGurk’s Bar on December 4.
The following is an extract:
“My immediate aim and first priority is to remove the presence of B Coy (company) 1st Official IRA and C Coy 3rd Battalion Provisional IRA as active terrorist organisations. When this has been done we can look forward jointly to the banishment of fear and terror and to a peace in which civil and political development can take place. To a period in which you will not lose your friends in a repetition of the ‘Provos’ accident at McGurk’s Bar.”
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