RUC/Loyalist Collusion
The solemn hush which filled Belfast's Milltown
Cemetery on Wednesday during the burial of three IRA
Volunteers was violently shattered by a loyalist
assassin who indiscriminately threw grenades and fired
into the densely packed ring of people surrounding the
republican plot.
The smoke of the grenades evaporated into the air long
before the screams of terrified people died out. Three
young men lay dead from gunshot wounds while over 60
people were injured by shrapnel or gunshot wounds.
One of those shot was a ten year old boy who was hit in
the back as he tried to take cover. Another of the
injured, a young woman, is seriously ill in intensive
care. Six people are still in hospital - three of them
are described as stable and two as comfortable. Those
in hospital include a grandmother. Peggy Gough, who has
three stomach wounds and Mary Hamill, a mother of four
who is three months pregnant. She has injuries to her
head and arms.
The dead were named as Thomas McErlean (20) from
Masserene path in the Divis Flats complex, John Murray
(26) a father of two small children from Palistine
street in the Ormeau Road, and Kevin Brady (30) from
Moreland Park, Andersonstown.
Phoblacht 17 March 1988
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