![]() ![]() These attacks fostered a perception among some in the Protestant community that the IRA was waging an ethnic war against them. Off-duty UDR soldiers, who tended to be Protestants, were common targets of the IRA in County Tyrone. #GRAHAM AMBUSHED AT AIRPORT SERIES#The series of killings which led to the Coagh ambush began on 26 April 1988, when a 23-year-old UDR soldier from Coagh, Edward Gibson, was shot dead by an IRA unit at Ardboe whilst at work for Cookstown Council on a bin lorry. ![]() British intelligence sources claimed the men were involved in the Ballygawley bus bombing, which killed eight British soldiers and injured 28, which resulted in the British Army changing its troop transportation methods in East Tyrone, switching from using unarmoured vehicular transport coaches on country roads, to ferrying them in and out of its bases in the district using helicopters. In August 1988, the British Army shot dead another three IRA men who were stalking a part-time Ulster Defence Regiment soldier whilst he was off-duty near Carrickmore. Despite this major setback, IRA activity in East Tyrone didn't lessen in the following years. This was the IRA's greatest loss of life in a single incident during its campaign. In May 1987, an eight-man unit of the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade was ambushed and shot dead by the Special Air Service (SAS) during an attack by them on a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) rural police station at the village of Loughgall, County Armagh. ![]() 1.1 Tit-for-tat killings in East Tyrone. ![]()
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