Years of service c. 1974-1987 Name Patrick Kelly | Battles/wars The Troubles Rank Officer Commanding | |
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Unit Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade | ||
Patrick Joseph Kelly (19 March 1957 – 8 May 1987), was an Irish commander of the East Tyrone Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army during the mid-1980s until his death in a Special Air Service ambush at Loughgall, County Armagh in May 1987.
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Background
The oldest child in a Roman Catholic family of five, Kelly was born in Carrickfergus but brought up in Dungannon. The Kelly family has a long tradition of Irish republicanism.
Paramilitary activity
Kelly became a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army at the beginning of the 1970s and became one of the most experienced volunteers in Tyrone. He was arrested in February 1982 based on testimony from an informant named Patrick McGurk but was released in October 1983 due to lack of evidence, after a trial that lasted fifteen minutes.
In 1985, Kelly became brigade commander in East Tyrone and began developing tactics for attacking isolated Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) bases in his area. Under his leadership the East Tyrone Brigade became the most active IRA unit.
In 1986, Kelly attended the IRA Army Convention where the main topic of discussion was the principle of abstentionism. Gerry Adams and others argued that the abstentionist rule should be dropped and the Provisional movement should become involved in constitutional politics. Kelly voted against dropping the rule, and a rift with the majority of the IRA Army Council ensued.
Loughgall ambush
Patrick Kelly was killed in an action by the Special Air Service (SAS) on 8 May 1987 while he was participating in an attack on Loughgall RUC barracks which also led to the deaths of seven other IRA members: Pádraig McKearney, Declan Arthurs, Seamus Donnelly, Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, Jim Lynagh, and Gerard O'Callaghan. Kelly's funeral in Dungannon was one of the largest in Tyrone during the Troubles.
Patrick Kelly was buried in Edendork cemetery, two miles from his home in Dungannon.