Timeline of Irish National Liberation Army actions

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This is a timeline of actions by the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group. Most of these actions took place as part of its 1975–1998 campaign during "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The INLA did not start claiming responsibility for its actions under the INLA name until January 1976 at which point they had already killed 12 people, before then they used the names People's Liberation Army (PLA) and People's Republican Army (PRA) to claim its attacks.^[1]

1970s[]

1974[]

• 8 December: the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), along with its political wing, the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP), was founded at the Spa Hotel in Lucan, South Dublin.^[2]

1975[]

• 20 February: the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA) shot dead an IRSP branch chairman of Whiterock (Hugh Ferguson) in Ballymurphy, Belfast, as part of the feud between the two republican groups.
• 25 February: the INLA shot dead an Official IRA volunteer (Sean Fox) in the Divis Flats area of Belfast; part of the feud.
• 1 March: the INLA shot and wounded OIRA leader Sean Garland. The attack happened in the Ballymun area of Dublin; part of the feud.
• 13 March: INLA gunmen shot and wounded Republican Clubs official Sean Morrisey in Belfast.^[3]
• 6 April: the Official IRA shot dead an INLA volunteer (Daniel Loughran) on Albert Street, Belfast; part of the feud.
• 12 April: the INLA shot dead an Official IRA volunteer (Paul Crawford) on Falls Road; part of the feud.
• 28 April: the INLA shot dead Official IRA Belfast Brigade Commander Billy McMillen on Falls Road; part of the feud.
• 24 May: a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) officer (Noel Davis) was killed by an INLA booby trap bomb left in a car in Ballinahone, near Maghera, County Londonderry.
• 5 June: the Official IRA shot dead an INLA volunteer (Brendan McNamee) on Stewartstown Road, Belfast; part of the feud.
• 15 June: INLA/IRSP members fired several shots from a hijacked car at two Protestant men on West Circular Road in the Springfield Road area of Belfast. There were no reported injuries.^[4]
• 17 June: the INLA, using the cover name People's Liberation Army, claimed responsibility for a number of bomb hoaxes in Belfast.^[5]
• 18 June: the INLA shot and wounded an RUC officer at Hamilton Street, Derry during an ambush on an RUC mobile patrol.^[3][6]
• 26 July: an INLA sniper shot dead a RUC officer (Robert McPherson) shortly after he left his armoured personnel carrier in Dungiven, County Londonderry. Another RUC officer was seriously injured in the attack.^[6]
• July: a British soldier and an RUC officer were held up and disarmed in Dungiven, County Londonderry. Uniforms, documents, and weapons were seized.^[6]
• July: two RUC officers were held up and disarmed in Limavady, County Londonderry. Uniforms, documents, and weapons were seized.^[6]
• 9 August: the INLA carried out three separate attacks against British Army patrols in the Windmill Hill-Callan Street area of Armagh City, Armagh, injuring two soldiers.^[7][6]
• 9 August: an INLA unit carried out an attack against a British Army patrol in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast, seriously injuring a British soldier.^[7][6]
• 9 August: an INLA unit carried out an attack against a British Army patrol in the in Waterford Street, Lower Falls in Belfast, seriously injuring a British soldier^[7][6]
• 9 August: the INLA was involved in clashes at the Divis Flats complex in Belfast, later claiming to have "assisted in the defence of the Divis Flats Complex against Loyalist and British enemy attacks.^[6]
• 6 September: an INLA unit attacked Rosemount RUC station in Derry. The station came under sustained fire for approximately fifteen minutes.^[7]
• 12 September: two British soldiers were injured by an INLA bomb in the Whiterock area of Belfast.^[7]
• 13 September: two British soldiers were injured during an attack on a mobile patrol in the Shantallow area of Derry.^[7]
• 10 October: a British Army soldier (Private David Wray) died two weeks after being shot by an INLA sniper while on patrol on Iniscarn Road, Derry.
• 27 October: INLA members shot and wounded two Protestant garage workers on the Strand Road, Derry, alleging they were members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Both men had been before the courts on arms charges. It was retaliation for a UDA under-car booby-trap bomb which severely injured a Catholic man three days earlier.^[7][8][9]
• 30 October: the INLA bombed a garage in Armagh, County Armagh. They accused the business of servicing security forces vehicles.^[10][6]
• 2 November: a British soldier was injured in an INLA ambush in Armagh, County Armagh.^[10][6]
• 2 December: two Protestant civilians (Charles McNaul and Alexander Mitchell) were shot dead while sitting in the Dolphin Café on Strand Road, Derry. Gunmen carrying pistols picked them out and opened fire without warning. The INLA later admitted responsibility and claimed its gunmen believed the two men were members of the UDA.^[11]
• 31 December 1975: INLA Volunteers using the covername "Armagh People's Republican Army" killed 3 people in a bomb attack on a pub in Gilford, County Down. See: Central Bar bombing 1975

References for this year:^[12][13][6]

1976[]

• January: the "National Liberation Army" announced its existence in a press release published in the IRSP newspaper The Starry Plough. It also claimed responsibility for several attacks on British security forces carried out in 1975.^[6]
• February: a press statement was released by "Irish National Liberation Army, Department of General Headquarters" claiming that a new organisation had been created as a result of a merger between the "National Liberation Army" and "People's Liberation Army". Both were cover names for the INLA and this statement was an effort to hide the fact that INLA had been in existence for over a year at that point.^[14]
• 7 February: a Catholic schoolboy (Thomas Rafferty, 14) was killed by an INLA booby-trap bomb meant for the security services at Derryall Road, Portadown after Rafferty accidentally triggered the bomb.
• 12 March: INLA members exchanged fire with armed Gardaí Special Branch detectives during an attempted train robbery in County Wicklow.
• 5 May: nine IRSP/INLA prisoners escaped from Long Kesh prison via a tunnel. This was the first mass breakout from the prison complex.^[15]
• 3 August: an INLA sniper shot dead a British soldier (Alan Watkins) on foot patrol, Dungiven, County Londonderry. A follow-up operation discovered a large booby-trap bomb.^[16]
• 14 September: INLA and IRA prisoners in Maze Prison began the blanket protest. In the May 1977 issue of The Starry Plough the INLA claimed responsibility for six attacks against "property and individuals associated with the prison service" between September and December 1976.^[14]
• 25 September: the INLA launched a gun attack at a house on Ormonde Park, Finaghy, Belfast. Gunmen opened fire in the hallway, killing a father (James Kyle) and his daughter (Rosaleen Kyle), both Protestant civilians. A detective said that it was thought to be a case of mistaken identity. In the Belfast Street Directory, James Kyle was described as a "chief inspector" and it was assumed the gunmen thought he was an RUC officer, but, in fact, Kyle had been a bank inspector until two months before his death, on 28 October 1976.^[17]
• 24 November: the INLA shot dead a British soldier (Andrew Crocker) when he arrived at the scene of an armed robbery at a Belfast post office.
• 22 December: the INLA killed a RUC officer (Samuel Armour) with a booby-trap bomb attached to his car outside his home, Curragh Road, Maghera, County Londonderry.
• 29 December: a civilian security guard (James Liggett) died two weeks after being shot trying to stop a bomb attack on the Tavern Bar, Edenderry, Portadown, County Armagh.^[18]

References for this year:^[19][20]

1977[]

• 23 January: an INLA sniper shot dead a British soldier (George Muncaster) while on foot patrol, Eliza Street, Markets, Belfast.
• 1 March: the INLA shot a magistrate (Robert Whitten) on Thomas Street, Portadown. He died of his wounds on 19 June 1977.^[21]
• 7 April: an INLA unit was ambushed by undercover British soldiers near Bellaghy, County Londonderry. An INLA member was seriously wounded but suppressed the soldiers long enough to allow the rest of his unit to escape.^[14]
• 28 April: two RUC detectives were wounded after cornering an INLA unit who had just kidnapped the son of a Belfast banker on the outskirts of Belfast. The INLA members escaped and were later paid a random of £25,000.^[14]
• 26 May: a British soldier, member of a liaison team from the Royal Anglian Regiment, was seriously injured by an INLA gunman in a corridor in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. One of the five shots fired also hit a male nurse.^[7][22]
• 5 October: INLA founder and leader Seamus Costello was shot dead by the Official IRA in Northbrook Avenue, Dublin; part of the feud with the Official IRA.
• 11 December: the INLA carried out several attacks in Belfast using newly-acquired Soviet model hand grenades; the first grenade was thrown at British soldiers in sangar at Roden Street, two hours later soldiers came under attack on the Antrim Road, then a third grenade was lobbed at a passing patrol at the junction of Cullingtree Road and Albert Street.^[23][24]
• 12 December: British Army soldiers shot dead an INLA volunteer (Colm McNutt) in Derry after he allegedly attempted to hijack a car containing undercover soldier.^[25]
• 14 December: the INLA claimed responsibility for a blast bomb attack on Rosemount RUC station, Derry. Damage was minimal and there were no reported injuries.^[26][25]
• 15 December: the INLA carried out another blast bomb attack on Rosemount RUC station, Derry. Damage was minimal and there were no reported injuries.^[24]
• 16 December: the INLA carried out a bomb attack against the British Army base at Strand Road, Derry.
• 17 December: the INLA fired on a security forces mobile patrol as it drove through the Creggan area of Derry.

References for this year:^[27][28]

1978[]

• 26 February: following an IRSP H-Block rally, an INLA unit ambushed a Saracen APC after slowing it down with a makeshift barricade on the Springfield Road, Belfast. A British soldier was wounded.^[14]
• 26 February: a hand grenade was thrown at a RUC station on the Springfield Road, Belfast.^[14]
• 26 February: an INLA gunman armed only with a handgun fired into an armoured car at point blank range in west Belfast.^[14]
• 8 March: the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) shot dead an INLA volunteer (Thomas Trainor), together with a civilian (Denis Kelly) as they both left a Department of Health and Social Services office, Armagh Road, Portadown, County Armagh.^[29]
• 28 March: an INLA bomb team was intercepted by the RUC in Finaghy Road North, Belfast. Officers shot and seriously wounded one of the men, who was a key member of the organisation in Belfast.^[14]
• 10 May: an INLA unit fired on a Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) patrol on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. There were no injuries reported.
• 10 May: an INLA unit fired on RUC officers at Henry Taggart Barracks in the Springfield area of Belfast. There were no injuries reported.
• 28 May: the INLA was responsible for several bomb hoaxes in Derry. Hijacked buses were also left on Craigavon Bridge and the Strand Road. The disruption was timed to coincide with the opening of a festival organised by the city council.^[30]
• 9 August: INLA volunteers carried out a number of attacks on British patrols & bases in Belfast with newly acquired AK47's. No claimed hits in any attacks.
• 13 August: a British soldier was wounded by an INLA sniper in Roden Street, Belfast.
• 14 August: a British army observation post was hit by INLA sniper fire in the Markets area of Belfast.
• 16 August: three British soldiers were wounded by an INLA unit in Cromac Square, Belfast.
• 26 August: the INLA claimed responsibility for seriously injuring a man in an apparent punishment shooting attack in the Whiterock area of Belfast.^[31]
• 8 October: the INLA shot and injured an RUC detective in his car at the Balmoral flyover, near King's Hall, Belfast.^[32]
• 25 October: INLA members carried out an arson attack on Castlerobin Orange Hall in Lisburn in retaliation for the sectarian murder of Catholics. Another Orange Hall at Glenavy near Lisburn was burnt down after several attempts between October 1978 and April 1979.^[33]
• 12 November: British Ambassador to Ireland Walter Robert Haydon unknowingly survived an INLA assassination attempt in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. A remote-controlled bomb placed inside a stool failed to explode when triggered from a car outside and was later retrieved by members of the INLA.^[14]
• 11 December: the INLA claimed responsibility for several bombs planted outside premises in Belfast city centre; a bank on the Antrim Road, an insurance company office on Clarence Street, an electrical goods showroom on the Antrim Road and Water Department headquarters in Verner Street. A fifth device was defused outside a bank in Bedford Street.^[34]
• 15 December: the INLA planted bombs outside two bank premises at Sackville Street and Shipquay Street, Derry. One device was defused, the other caused only minor damage. Bombs attacks on two banks in the Shantallow area of the city were aborted because the unit involved was delayed.^[35][36]
• 17 December: a Maze prison officer was injured when a mercury-tilt switch bomb exploded under his car near Lisburn. (This was the first time the INLA used this type of device)^[37]

1979[]

• 6 January: INLA members in a hijacked car exchanged fire with pursuing RUC officers in the Creggan area of Derry. The driver of the hijacked vehicle was injured and arrested.^[36]
• 23 January: The INLA carried out gun attacks against the RUC and British Army in Belfast, seriously injuring a RUC officer.^[10]
• 6 March: the INLA exploded a booby-trap bomb underneath the car of a UDR soldier (Robert McNally) as he was leaving a car park, West Street, Portadown, County Armagh. McNally died on 13 March.
• 9 March: the INLA carried out several firebomb attacks on banks in Belfast.^[38]
• 10 March: INLA snipers opened fire on a British Army and RUC patrol in Belfast, no hits were claimed.^[38]
• 22 March: an INLA sniper opened fire on an RUC mobile patrol in Cromac Street adjacent to the Markets area of Belfast, injuring one RUC officer hitting him in the arm and his thigh.^[38][39]
• 30 March: Airey Neave, British Conservative Party Member of Parliament and adviser to Margaret Thatcher, was killed by a booby-trap bomb underneath his car at the House of Commons; the INLA claimed responsibility. The INLA issued a statement regarding the killing in the August 1979 edition of The Starry Plough:^[40]

In March, retired terrorist and supporter of capital punishment, Airey Neave, got a taste of his own medicine when an INLA unit pulled off the operation of the decade and blew him to bits inside the 'impregnable' Palace of Westminster. The nauseous Margaret Thatcher snivelled on television that he was an 'incalculable loss'—and so he was—to the British ruling class.

• 11 April: an INLA unit opened fire on an RUC mobile patrol at the corner of Spinner Street and Lower Falls, Belfast, injuring an RUC officer.^[41]
• 13 April: an INLA unit opened fire on a British Army foot patrol in the Whiterock area of Belfast.^[41]
• 19 April: the INLA shot dead a prison officer (Agnes Wallace) during a gun and grenade attack outside Armagh Prison, four other officers were injured in the attack.^[42]
• 30 April: a UDR soldier narrowly escaped serious injury after a booby-trap bomb exploded under his car at the junction of Linenhall Street and Bridge Street, Ballymena, County Antrim.^[14][43]
• 18 June: an INLA unit fired on an RUC vehicle patrol as it passed at the junction of Cullingtree Road and Albert Street in the Divis Flats area, Belfast.^[44]
• 3 July: the INLA was declared an illegal organisation in Britain and Northern Ireland.^[45]
• 27 July: a former RUC officer (James Wright) was killed by a booby trap bomb attached to his car by the INLA outside his home, Corcrain Drive, Portadown, County Armagh.
• 31 July: the INLA shot dead a RUC officer (George Walsh) from a passing car while Walsh sat in a stationary car, outside Armagh Courthouse, Armagh town.
• 9 August: two British soldiers were seriously injured by INLA snipers in West Belfast.^[10]
• 29 September: two INLA members hijacked a motorcycle on the Falls Road, Belfast for a gun attack on British soldiers in Belfast city centre. They were spotted by the RUC on Durham Street and after a chase arrested.^[46]
• 16 October: an INLA volunteer (Anthony McClelland) died after the car he was travelling in crashed while being chased by armed Gardaí in County Monaghan. Dessie O'Hare, the driver, was arrested having sustained several injuries. Two other passengers were also injured. The group were transporting arms and ammunition when they encountered a Garda checkpoint.^[47]
• 20 October: two INLA gunmen shot and wounded a man in Belfast City Hospital in the early hours of the morning. He was in hospital following a gun attack at his home in the Markets area of Belfast the evening prior.^[48]
• 3 November: the INLA bombed the British Consulate in Antwerp, Belgium.^[49]
• 7 November: the INLA shot dead a Northern Ireland Prison Service employee (David Teeney) at a bus stop shortly after leaving Crumlin Road Prison, Belfast.

References for this year:^[50][51]

1980s[]

1980[]

• 13 January: a civilian (John Brown) died seven months after being shot by INLA members during an armed robbery at the post office where he worked on Main Street, Blackwatertown, County Armagh.
• 7 March: an INLA Active service unit planted two 10 lb bombs at Netheravon British Army camp in Salisbury Plain. Only one bomb detonated & caused damage starting a fire, injuring two soldiers.^[52][53]
• 8 March: a part-time UDR soldier was seriously injured by booby-trap bomb outside his workplace on the Springfield Road, Belfast. The INLA claimed responsibility.^[52][54]
• 18 March: INLA members carried out a firebomb attack on a pub in Derry. The fire was contained but several hours later another fire started. Secretly, the Derry INLA had agreed to wreck the restaurant in return for a cut of the insurance pay-out afterwards.^[55]
• 18 March: a bomb injured a UDR soldier near the Gransha Hospital, Derry.^{[citation needed]}
• 3 April: an RUC officer was "very seriously" injured by a mercury tilt-switch bomb planted under his car in the Mountpottinger area of Belfast.^[56]
• 13 May: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb attack which destroyed a customs post at Carnagh, County Armagh.^[57][56]
• 30 June: the INLA claimed responsibility for firebombing the Greystone Rugby Club near Dublin. A club player, John Robbie, was on tour with the Lions in Apartheid South Africa.^[58]
• 8 July: an INLA bomb exploded under a car parked opposite Lisburn Road RUC station, Belfast, as a British Army expert tried to defuse it. The owner had no connections to British security forces.^[59]
• 19 July: the INLA claimed responsibility for an arson attack on a hardware store near Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. They alleged it was being used as a secret observation post by the British Army.^[60]
• 9 August: an INLA sniper accidentally shot dead a civilian (James McCarren) during a sniper attack on a British Army mobile patrol, Shaw's Road, Andersonstown, Belfast.
• 9 August: a British soldier was seriously injured in a grenade attack in the New Lodge area of Belfast.
• 29 August: a civilian (Frank McGrory) died after inadvertently detonating a booby trap bomb which had been hidden in a hedgerow, at Carnagh, County Armagh, near Keady; it is believed to have been left there by the INLA for use against the security forces.
• 2 September: the INLA released an English tourist they kidnapped near Castleblaney, County Monaghan who they had mistaken for a member of the SAS.^[61]
• 20 September: the INLA threatened to bomb hotels in the Republic where RUC officers and Gardaí met to discuss security issues. They also threatened to use lethal force against motorists who failed to stop at INLA roadblocks.^[62]
• 15 October: the UDA shot dead INLA leader Ronnie Bunting and another INLA member (Noel Little) at Bunting's home in Downfine Gardens, Belfast. Bunting's wife, Suzanne, was wounded in the attack.
• 19 November: the INLA shot dead a civilian (Thomas Orr) outside his workplace, Ulster Bank on Boucher Road, Belfast. It emerged that the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. The intended target had been an RUC Reserve officer who worked at the bank. The officer had sold a car to the victim two weeks earlier. He had taken the precaution of changing the vehicle's registration number but the gunmen had identified the car by its make and colour.^[63]
• 9 December: three RUC officers were injured, one seriously, after coming under automatic fire while responding to a hoax call in St. Coleman's Terrace, Strabane, County Tyrone. A civilian was also seriously injured. The RUC blamed the INLA, who claimed responsibility for several similar ambushes in Belfast in 1980.^[64]
• 10 December: the INLA shot dead an off-duty UDR soldier (Colin Quinn) after leaving his workplace, Fox Row, off Durham Street, Belfast.
• 21 December: a booby-trapped toy soldier was found near Keady, County Armagh. Sources claim the INLA was responsible.^[65]
• 28 December: the INLA shot dead an off-duty British Territorial Army soldier (Hugh McGinn) outside his home, Umgola Villas, Umgola, near Armagh town.

References for this year:^[66][67]

1981[]

• 3 January: the INLA tried to assassinate Unionist politician David Calvert at his home in Lurgan, County Armagh. A gunman allegedly armed with a silenced pistol appeared at his front door 20 minutes after a phone call claiming to be from a constituent.^[68]
• 8 January: the INLA fired shots at RUC officers on patrol on Great Victoria Street, Belfast; one officer (Lindsay McDougall) was wounded and died six days later, on 14 January.^[69]
• 19 January: INLA members kidnapped a woman from a social event in Arklow, County Wexford to raise funds for the INLA. She was rescued after three days and seven people were arrested by Gardaí.^[70]
• 8 February: the INLA shot dead an RUC officer (Alexander Scott) on My Lady's Road, Belfast.
• 1 March: a republican hunger strike began in the Maze Prison. Four INLA and nineteen IRA prisoners would join.
• 25 March: UDA member and Belfast City Councillor Frank Millar was shot and seriously injured in Belfast by INLA gunman.
• 26 March: the INLA shot a man in the leg the Markets area of Belfast "for jeopardising an active service unit".^[71]
• 27 March: the INLA shot dead an off-duty UDR soldier (John Smith) on Cromac Street in the Markets area of Belfast.^[72][71]
• 2 April: the INLA planted a mercury tilt-switch bomb under the car of Kenneth Smithfield, Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Office, in Deramore Drive, off the Malone Road, Belfast. The bomb fell off the vehicle and was defused by the British Army.^[73][74][75]
• 16 April: the INLA shot dead an off-duty UDR soldier (John Donnelly) who was drinking at The Village Inn, Moy, County Tyrone.
• 21 April: INLA members shot a bus driver in the head after he tried to drive off during a hijacking in Craigavon, County Armagh.^[76]
• 27 April: the INLA killed an RUC officer (Gary Martin) and injured three other officers, two of them seriously, with a booby-trap bomb hidden in a lorry at the junction of Shaw's Road and Glen Road, Andersonstown, Belfast.^[77]
• May: the INLA carried out a bomb attack against North Howard Street army base, Falls Road, Belfast.^[78]
• May: an RUC officer narrowly escaped injury after he spotted an INLA bomb attached to the underside of his car outside his home in the Malone area of Belfast. The officer (Gerald Cathcart) was shot dead by the Provisional IRA two years later.^[79][80]
• 4 May: the INLA launched a gun attack on RUC officers at East Bridge Street, adjacent to the Markets area of Belfast.^[81]
• 5 May: the INLA carried out several attacks against the RUC and British Army across Northern Ireland following the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. An INLA sniper opened fire on British security forces in the Divis Flats area of Belfast.^[82][83]
• 7 May: an INLA volunteer (James Power) was killed in a premature bomb explosion at a house on Friendly Street, Markets, Belfast. The device was intended to be used against a British Army patrol and was being defused after the opportunity passed.
• 12 May: the INLA carried out several attacks against British security forces in Belfast following the death of IRA hunger striker Francis Hughes.^[82]
• 12 May: a British Army sniper shot dead an INLA volunteer (Emmanuel McClarnon) after he had opened fire on British soldiers at Divis Flats, Belfast.^[82]
• 21 May: INLA prisoner Patsy O'Hara died on hunger strike in the Maze Prison.
• 29 May: the INLA claimed responsibility for an unexploded bomb found at Fianna Fáil headquarters in Castleblayney, County Monaghan, not long before Taoiseach Charles Haughey was due to arrive. The bomb wasn't primed and was a warning over Haughey's alleged inactivity on the Hunger Strike issue.^[84]
• 1 June: INLA snipers in the Short Strand area fired on an RUC patrol investigating a bomb alert at Belfast Central railway station. One RUC officer was hit in the back and arm.^[85]
• 3 June: an INLA unit fired at an RUC officer from a passing car at Donegal Square South in Belfast city centre, but missed.^[86][87]
• 25 June: an INLA unit opened fire on RUC officers in the vicinity of Clifton Street and Henry Place, Belfast.^[88]
• 27 June: a gunman fired several shots at a British soldier on duty in the intensive care ward of Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, before escaping in an awaiting hijacked car. The INLA claimed responsibility.^[89] At least one other source claims the soldier was "very seriously" injured.^[90]
• 3 July: an INLA gunman fired on Rev. Ian Paisley's car after it crossed Albert Bridge, near the Markets area of Belfast. The single shot missed. In a statement issued less than two hours after the shooting the INLA said:^[90][91]

  ...His incitement to hatred against the Nationalist population makes him a legitimate target and his security can be easily breached at any time...

• 14 July: an INLA unit shot and wounded a British Royal Marine in an ambush in the Lower Falls area of Belfast.^[92]
• 14 July: an INLA unit wounded an RUC officer in a close-range gun attack on the Ormeau Road, Belfast.^[86][93][90]
• 18 July: the INLA attacked an RUC vehicle patrol with two blast bombs in the Markets area of Belfast, slightly injuring an RUC officer.^[81][94]
• 19 July: an INLA sniper fired two shots at an RUC patrol at Lisbon Street in the Short Strand area of Belfast. The officers returned fire but claimed no hits and were later treated for shock.^[95]
• 24 July: an INLA booby-trap van bomb exploded at a brewery on the Glen Road, west Belfast. Three men were injured, one very seriously.^[90]
• 27 July: INLA snipers seriously injured an RUC officer and also shot a 13-year-old girl across a peace line in the Shankill area of Belfast from a block of flats in Bombay Street. A gas meter had been broken into to lure the RUC to Sugarfield Street.^[90][96]
• 29 July: the INLA planned to detonate a bomb on the route of the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer but the operation was aborted after the Belfast INLA couldn't get explosives in time.^[97]
• 31 July: the INLA shot dead an ex-RUC officer (Thomas Harpur) who was visiting a friend's home, Mount Sion, Ballycolman, Strabane, County Tyrone.
• 1 August: INLA prisoner Kevin Lynch died on hunger strike in the Maze Prison.
• 10 August: an INLA sniper wounded a UDR soldier in the Short Strand area of east Belfast. Afterwards the regular British Army and UDR sealed the Catholic enclave and mounted an intensive two-day search of the area. They were accused of mistreatment; the conduct of the UDR particularly was heavily criticised by residents.^[98][90][99]
• 12 August: the INLA carried out a bomb attack against RUC officers on Chichester Street in Belfast city centre.^[100]
• 20 August: INLA prisoner Michael Devine died on hunger strike in the Maze Prison.
• 22 August: the INLA attacked RUC officers on Mountpottinger Road in the Short Strand area of Belfast.^[100]
• 5 September: the INLA tried to kill two RUC detectives on East Bridge Street, adjacent to the Markets area of Belfast.^[81]
• 29 September: the INLA shot dead an off-duty UDR soldier (Mark Stockman) shortly after he left his workplace, Mackie's factory, Springfield Road, Belfast. Another man was seriously injured.^[101]
• 9 October: the INLA shot and wounded UDP councillor Sammy Millar in his Shankill Road home.^[98][102]
• 16 October: the INLA shot dead a senior Ulster Defence Association (UDA) member (Billy McCullough) outside his home on Denmark Street in the Shankill area of Belfast.^[103]
• 28 October: a civilian (Edward Brogan) whom the INLA later claimed was an informer, was found shot dead at a rubbish dump, Shantallow, Derry.
• 24 November: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted outside the British Consulate in Hamburg, West Germany.^[104] Allegedly the device failed to explode.^[90]
• 25 November: the INLA claimed responsibility for exploding a bomb at a British Army base in Herford, West Germany; one British soldier was injured.^[104] The attack was carried out in collaboration with the Revolutionary Cells militant organisation.^[78]
• 5 December: IRSP member & INLA Volunteer Harry Flynn was shot and seriously wounded in an assassination attempt ordered by Gerard Steenson.^[105]

References for this year:^{[98][102][106][107]}

1982[]

• 15 January: an INLA unit used a man they had kneecapped as bait to lure British security forces into a shopping centre in the Shantallow area of Derry and minutes later triggered a 5 lb (2.3 kg) bomb by command wire. However the main charge did not explode.^[108]
• 22 January: the INLA tried to kill an RUC officer with a bomb attack on Dunluce Avenue, Belfast.^[86][81]
• 25 January: INLA members Sean Flynn and Bernard Dorrian were shot and injured in the Short Strand area of Belfast. (It's claimed Gerard Steenson ordered the shooting).^[109]
• 27 January: the INLA shot and seriously injured a former UDR soldier at his workplace on Alfred Street in Belfast city centre.^[81][110]
• 29 January: the INLA shot dead prominent loyalist and Red Hand Commando founder John McKeague at his shop on Albertbridge Road, Belfast.^[111]
• February: an INLA operation to assassinate Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader James Molyneaux with an under-car booby trap bomb was foiled by the RUC when they intercepted the consignment of explosives and rifles for the unit involved.^[112]
• 4 February: the INLA tried to kill an off-duty UDR soldier in the Ogle Street area of Armagh, County Armagh. He was shot at by two gunmen on a motorcycle but returned fire, wounding the driver.^{[113][114][115]}
• 20 February: the INLA shot dead a member of the Garda Síochána (Patrick Reynolds) at a house in Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, County Dublin.
• 14 March: the INLA stole 1,000 lb (450 kg) of Frangex commercial explosives from the Mogul Mines at Silvermines in County Tipperary.^[116]
• 21 March: a major INLA bombing campaign was foiled after Gardaí, allegedly acting on RUC intelligence given by an informer, seized fifty radio-controlled cassette-type incendiary devices in a flat in Galway.^[117]
• 4 April: two incendiary bombs were defused by the British Army on Shipquay Street and Strand Road in Derry.^[118] The INLA claimed responsibility for that action and three other bomb attacks in the city at a hunger strike commemoration on 12 April.^[119]
• 21 April: an elderly man was seriously injured by a blast bomb outside a shop on Carlisle Street, Derry. The bomb had been intended for British security forces; the INLA tried to lure them in with a call to the police warning of two other bombs on the same street.^[120][121]
• 29 April: a blast bomb exploded outside a shop near the Ferryquay Gate on Carlisle Street, Derry. RUC officers lured to the scene suffered shock but were left uninjured; the incident was a repeat of a similar attack a week earlier.^[122]
• 6 May: an INLA bomb attached to a security barrier seriously injured a British soldier in Durham Street at the edge of Belfast city centre. A civilian passer-by was also injured.^[123][124]
• 16 May: the INLA claimed responsibility for detonating a large bomb at the home of former RUC Assistant Chief Constable Sam Bradley in the Ravenhill area of east Belfast. His wife suffered "severe lacerations" from flying glass.^[125][126]
• 20 May: the INLA left a bomb at the home of Democratic Unionist Party politician Rev. William Beattie. The bomb, consisting of ten sticks of commercial explosive attached to a can of petrol and a timing device, was defused.^[127]
• 21 May: the INLA carried out an attack on British security forces at Unity Place, Belfast.^[128]
• 28 May: a small bomb detonated under a car in Rosetta Drive, South Belfast. Residents spotted a larger shrapnel bomb rigged to the front door of a former member of the security forces, who wasn't home. The device was later defused. The INLA was suspected.^[129]
• 2 June: a civilian (Patrick Smith, aged 16) was killed after inadvertently triggering an INLA booby-trap bomb attached to an abandoned motorcycle, Rugby Road, Belfast.
• 4 June: the INLA shot dead an Official IRA volunteer (James Flynn) on North Strand Road, Dublin in revenge for the murder of IRSP/INLA founder Seamus Costello in October 1977; Flynn was believed to be responsible. Another Official IRA man survived after the weapon misfired. The INLA warned afterwards that the leadership of the The Worker's Party would be held responsible for any retaliatory attacks by the OIRA.^[14][130]
• 11 June: a former UDR soldier escaped a group of gunman who ambushed him at a rear entry off Hayward Avenue on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. There were no injuries reported.^[131]
• 16 June: six people were injured after the INLA exploded a bomb in a commercial premises on Carlisle Road, Derry. A warning had claimed there were three devices and the area was being evacuated when the explosion occurred.^[132]
• 22 June: the INLA claimed responsibility for two 3 lb (1.4 kg) bombs planted at a petroleum plant in Derry to coincide with a visit by the Duchess of Gloucester to the city. One exploded causing little damage; but minutes later a second device exploded rupturing a 250,000 gallon (1,136500 litre) storage tank. The massive quantity of fuel spilling from the tank failed to ignite, averting widespread devastation. More than three hundred families were evacuated as the British Army defused a third bomb.^{[133][134][135]}
• 30 June - 1 July: the INLA planted a number of bombs around Derry injuring 17 people including, soldiers, police & civilians.^{[citation needed]}
• 1 July: the INLA kidnapped an alleged RUC informer outside a pub in Dundalk, County Louth. He was released a few days later, apparently unharmed.^[136]
• 11 July: a petrol blast bomb with a payload of nails partially detonated at the home of West Belfast MP Gerry Fitt. The former SDLP leader narrowly escaped injury when only the petrol component exploded as he opened his steel front door after being lured out by a stone-throwing mob.^[137] The INLA claimed responsibility.^[138]
• 27 July: three men were kidnapped by the INLA and questioned about robberies in the Jonesborough area in south Armagh before being freed. In February, the INLA had threatened to "clean up" freelance hijackers and robbers.^[139][135]
• 2 August: a UDR soldier was seriously injured by a booby-trap bomb near Queen's University Belfast^[140]
• 5 August: RUC Assistant Chief Constable William Meharg, who had just resigned, narrowly escaped injury when a bomb exploded at his home in the Ravenhill area of Belfast.^[141]
• 14 August: a 4 lb (1.8 kg) booby-trap bomb fell off the underside of the car of a British soldier who was visiting his girlfriend in the Waterside area of Derry.^{[142][143][135]}
• 15 August: the INLA claimed responsibility for a van bomb defused by the British Army in Downpatrick, County Down. It consisted of a kilogram of commercial explosives rigged to an electronic detonator and booby-trap mechanism.^[144]
• 26 August: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted under the car of an RUC officer. The device detonated outside of a care home in Whiteabbey, seriously injuring the officer.^[145][135]
• 1 September: the INLA shot and seriously wounded Billy Dickinson at his home, then a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) member of Belfast City Council. A small bomb later exploded outside his house.^[146][147]
• 4 September: the INLA was blamed for a 5 lb (2.3 kg) bomb that fell off the underside of an RUC officer's car in Patrick Street, Strabane, County Tyrone. Fifty people from nearby homes were evacuated while the device was defused.^[148]
• 11 September: the INLA warned they would act "without mercy against those responsible" for attacks on the Nationalist community in County Armagh, three days after a loyalist gun attack on the home of senior INLA member Seamus Grew.^[149]
• 16 September: the INLA detonated a remote-control bomb hidden in a drainpipe as a British patrol passed Cullingtree Walk, Divis Flats, Belfast. A British soldier (Kevin Waller) and two Catholic children (Stephen Bennett and Kevin Valliday) were killed (see:1982 Divis Flats bombing).^[150]
• 20 September: the INLA claimed responsibility for bombing a radar station on Mount Gabriel, County Cork. Five INLA volunteers hijacked a car carrying an engineer to the station. They forced their way inside, tied-up several workers and planted the bombs. The INLA claimed it attacked the station because it was linked to NATO.^[151]
• 25 September: INLA members shot dead a Protestant civilian (William Nixon) at his home on Harland Walk, off Newtownards Road, Belfast. The INLA denied involvement in the attack, saying it was opposed to "random" sectarian shootings.^[152][150]
• 25 September: INLA members shot and seriously injured a Protestant civilian (Karen McKeown, 20) outside a church hall on Albertbridge Road in east Belfast. She died of her wounds three weeks later on the 17 October. The RUC believed the attack, and another murder on the same date, were retaliation for Loyalist attacks in Markets and Short Strand areas two days earlier.^[150][153]
• 27 September: the INLA killed a British soldier (Leon Bush) with a booby-trap bomb attached to a security barrier on West Circular Road, Belfast.^[150] Two other soldiers were also injured.^[154]
• 7 October: an INLA sniper killed a UDR soldier (Fred Williamson) and, indirectly, a female prison officer (Elizabeth Chambers) in Kilmore. Williamson was shot while driving his car, which went out of control and crashed into Chambers' car, killing her.
• 18 October: an INLA gunman shot and seriously injured a former UDR soldier while he was teaching a class at a primary school in Newry, County Armagh.^[155]
• 18 October: Robert Andrew Overend, the son of Unionist politician Robert Overend, was injured when an INLA roadside bomb exploded as his vehicle approached (triggered by a tripwire stretched across the road) the family farm near Bellaghy, County Londonderry.^{[156][157][158]}
• 19 October: the INLA exploded a bomb at the headquarters of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) on Glengall Street, Belfast. The building was badly damaged by the blast.
• 20 October: a bomb placed outside the home of UUP leader James Molyneaux was found and defused. It was one of two INLA attempts to assassinate Molyneaux within a 24-hour period.^[159][160]
• 16 November: the INLA shot dead two RUC officers (Ronald Irwin and Snowdon Corkey) at a security barrier in Markethill, County Armagh. INLA members fired several shots from a car before turning around and escaping the village. SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon was present at the scene when the attack occurred and was the first person to check on the downed officers.^[161]
• 24 November: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted under a barrister's car. She was driving into the Crumlin Road courts when a security guard spotted the device, which was safely detonated an hour later with no casualties. The intended target was her father, a high-profile judge.^[162][163]
• 25 November: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb which destroyed a security hut at the High Court in Belfast.^[164]
• 30 November: an incendiary parcel bomb exploded in the 10 Downing Street offices of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; an official who opened the letter suffered burns. The INLA claimed responsibility.^[165] Animal rights militants also claimed responsibility for the attack.^[166]
• 30 November: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted under an RUC officer's car in the Bellevue area of north Belfast. Several houses were damaged but there were no reported injuries.^[167]
• 6 December: Droppin Well bombing - the INLA killed 11 British soldiers and 6 civilians when it exploded a time bomb at a disco frequented by British soldiers in Ballykelly, County Londonderry.
• 12 December: undercover RUC officers shot dead two INLA volunteers (Seamus Grew and Rodney Carroll) at a vehicle checkpoint at Mullacreevie Park, Armagh. RUC intelligence believed that INLA Chief of Staff Dominic McGlinchey was a passenger in the car.^[78]
• 14 December: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted under an RUC officer's car that exploded shortly after he parked outside Castlereagh Holding Centre, Belfast. Nobody was injured. The attack came hours after the INLA pledged to “avenge with unmerciful ferocity” the RUC killing of two INLA volunteers.^[168][169]
• 14 December: a search was conducted at Stormont, Belfast, site of the Northern Ireland Assembly, after a man claiming to speak for the INLA called in a bomb warning to the police. No devices were found.^[170]

References for this year:^[171][172]

1983[]

• 28 January: the INLA bombed the home of a senior RUC officer in east Belfast.^[173]
• 2 February: an INLA volunteer (Neil McMonagle) was shot dead by undercover British Army officer during an altercation at Leafair Park, Shantallow, Derry.
• 24 April: the INLA left a 3 lb (1.4 kg) booby-trap bomb attached to a garage in the Divis Flats complex. The device was defused by the British Army after the INLA issued a statement warning the bomb was unstable.^[174][175]
• 6 May: the INLA shot dead one of its own members (Eric Dale) at Clontygora, near Killeen, County Armagh as an alleged informer.^[176]
• 16 May: Elizabeth Kirpatrick wife of informer Harry Kirkpatrick, is kidnapped. She is later released on the 25 August.
• 24 May: an INLA gunman tried to kill an off-duty UDR soldier as he arrived for work at a furniture store in Maghera, County Londonderry. The off-duty soldier returned fire and chased the gunman who escaped.^[177][178]
• 26 May: an RUC officer (Colin Carson) was shot dead by INLA members from a hijacked van while manning a security sangar at the RUC base in Cookstown, County Tyrone. They abandoned the vehicle following a pursuit and exchange of fire with an RUC patrol, and escaped.^[178]
• 26 May: INLA members fired from a car at an RUC checkpoint in Dungannon, County Tyrone. The vehicle was hijacked from the same family as the van used in the attack in Cookstown.^[178]
• 4 June: a UDR soldier (Andrew Stinson) was killed by an INLA booby-trap bomb attached to a mechanical digger in a field at Eglish, near Dungannon, County Tyrone.
• 9 June: an INLA bomb exploded inside a hijacked petroleum tanker in west Belfast. Gunmen held the driver's family hostage and forced him to drive the tanker into Woodburn RUC station, causing some damage to the base. The base and the surrounding area had been evacuated and there were no reported injuries.^[179][180]
• 16 June: the INLA planted a bomb in a video rental shop in Newry, County Down. As British Army technical officers went to defuse the bomb snipers opened fire, injuring an RUC detective.^[181][92]
• 30 June: the INLA planted two small bombs on board a petroleum tanker which was abandoned outside the RUC station in the centre of Newry, County Down. Although jets of flame 30-feet high emitted from the tanker firemen prevented an explosion which would have caused widespread devastation.^[180][182]
• 13 July: a former INLA volunteer (Eamon McMahon) was found shot dead in his car, Glasdrumman, near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. Another man (Patrick Mackin) described by CAIN as a Catholic civilian, was also found shot in McMahon's car. It has never been officially established who was responsible or why but McMahon was a brother-in-law of Eric Dale. It was reported in the Irish Independent that Dominic and Mary McGlinchey killed both men.^[176]
• 27 July: four UDR soldiers in a vehicle narrowly escaped injury when a 3–4 lb (1.4–1.8 kg) INLA time bomb exploded as they arrived to open a security gate at the junction of Castle Street and Queen Street in Belfast city centre. The blast damaged a search shelter and shattered windows in nearby buildings.^[183]
• 13 August: undercover RUC officers shot dead two INLA members (Gerard Mallon and Brendan Convery) as they were about to attack RUC officers in Dungannon, County Tyrone. Earlier that same day an INLA unit wounded an RUC Reserve officer in a similar attack at a security barrier in Markethill, County Armagh. The operations were supposed to be launched simultaneously but the Markethill unit erred.
• 17 August: INLA members raked Newry courthouse and an RUC Land Rover with automatic fire from a passing car. However the attack was foiled when a lorry, carrying a 40-foot container, stopped between the gunmen and the courthouse. There were no injuries.^[184]
• 6 September: the INLA shot dead a RUC officer (John Wasson) outside his home at Dukes Grove, off Cathedral Road, Armagh.
• 19 September: the INLA opened fire on a group of RUC officers in Newry.
• 23 September: the INLA ambushed a British Army patrol at the junction of Buncrana Road and Springtown Park, Derry.
• 14 October: an INLA plot to kidnap the wife and daughter of Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland Sir Robert Lowry at an equestrian event in County Sligo was foiled by Gardaí. Two Garda went to investigate three Northern Ireland registered vehicles when they were confronted by an armed gang of eight men. Both officers were taken hostage and eventually freed at Kilnaleck, County Cavan.^[185]
• 26 October: the INLA shot dead a former member (Gerard Barkley) near Redhills, County Cavan. An INLA statement issued from the Republic claimed he was an informer while the Belfast INLA claimed he was killed by British agents. The actual reason was Barkley had angered the INLA chief of staff by committing robberies for personal gain.^[14]
• 4 November: a van bomb exploded outside a bar on Patrick street, Strabane. The explosion demolished the bar, seriously injured 13 people (including 3 RUC officers) and another 16 people had minor injuries that did not require hospital attention.^[186]
• 20 November: gunmen opened fire on a Protestant church service in Darkley, killing 3 churchmen (David Wilson, Harold Brown, and Victor Cunningham). The attack was claimed by the "Catholic Reaction Force", however, Dominic McGlinchey stated one of the gunmen was an INLA member and that he had supplied him with a weapon.
• 2 December: the INLA injured two youths in punishment shooting in the Lower Falls area of Belfast, they were accused of endangering Divis Flats residents by driving around the complex in stolen cars.^[187]
• 2 December: Gardaí discovered by chance the safe house of INLA chief of staff Dominic McGlinchey in the Carrigtohill area of Cork. The unarmed officers were stripped of their uniforms and tied up and the INLA members escaped^[14]
• 5 December: the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) shot dead an INLA volunteer (Joseph Craven) from a passing motorcycle shortly after Craven left the Department of Health and Social Services office, Church Road, Newtownabbey, County Antrim.
• 17 December: an INLA time bomb exploded minutes before members of British security forces arrived to open a security gate at the junction of Castle Street and Queen Street in Belfast city centre. The blast demolished a search shelter and damaged nearby buildings. The attack was "virtually a carbon copy" of a previous INLA bombing at the same barrier in July 1983.^[188][189]
• 18 December: a group of INLA members led by Dominic McGlinchey stripped Gardaí manning a checkpoint of their uniforms and restrained them after being stopped at a routine checkpoint near Enniscorthy, County Wexford.^[190]

References for this year:^{[188][191][192]}

1984[]

• 12 January: an RUC Reserve officer was injured by an INLA bomb attached to his car in Newtownabbey, County Antrim.^[193]
• 20 January: the INLA shot dead a UDR soldier (Colin Houston) at his home on Sunnymede Avenue, Dunmurry.
• 28 January: an RUC Reserve officer was shot and badly wounded by the INLA in Kilkeel, County Down.^{[10][194][195]}
• 17 March: Dominic McGlinchey, then considered leader of the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), was recaptured after an exchange of gunfire with a team of Garda Security Task Force (STF) detectives at a house in Newmarket-on-Fergus, County Clare. One officer was seriously injured, a priest negotiated the surrender of the besieged INLA men after Gardaí forced their way inside the house.^[176]
• 13 April: the INLA shot dead an alleged local criminal (John George) identified by CAIN as a Catholic civilian, at his home on Thornhill Crescent, Twinbrook, Belfast.
• 6 May: four armed and uniformed INLA volunteers tried to take the platform at a Sinn Féin rally commemorating the 1981 Hunger Strike but were blocked by stewards. They were protesting Sinn Féin's refusal to allow any speakers from the IRSP at the event.^[196]
• 28 May: a bomb attack targeting British soldiers on the Ballymurphy Road, Belfast, was foiled by the RUC. INLA members were arrested in two houses they had taken over for the operation.^[197]
• 15 June: a RUC officer (Michael Todd) and an INLA volunteer (Paul McCann) were shot dead during a gun battle on Lenadoon Avenue, Belfast. The RUC had surrounded an INLA unit who had taken up position in a house.
• 11 August: an INLA attempt to ambush British security forces failed and at least one member of the INLA unit were arrested in Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast.^[198]
• 2 September: the INLA shot and seriously wounded a man in Newry in a punishment shooting. His leg was amputated as a consequence.^[194]
• 28 September: an INLA attempt to kill a UDR man in Armagh fails.^[194]
• 18 October: the INLA shot and badly wounded an eighteen-year-old in a punishment shooting in Strabane, County Tyrone for alleged "anti-social activities".^[199]
• 30 October: the INLA shot and injured a man for alleged anti-social behaviour in North Belfast.
• 1 December: an INLA attempt to kill a UDR soldier fails.^[where?]
• 3 December: the INLA claimed responsibility for several hoax bombs planted in Dublin. In a statement the INLA said it was a protest at the alleged threat to Irish neutrality posed by Ireland's membership of the EEC.^[200]
• 16 December: the INLA exploded a 60 lb (27 kg) car bomb outside a bar in Holywood, County Down. Nobody was injured. The INLA later claimed their target were British soldiers who usually loitered outside, but because of bad weather they didn't.^{[193][201][202]}
• 16 December: the INLA tried to kill Derry DUP councillor Gregory Campbell by planting a bomb under his car but the device fell off and was defused.^[203][202]
• 24 December: an assassination attempt targeting SAS officer Brian Baty was foiled by an informer. The INLA team were arrested outside a pub in Liverpool where the bomb was to be collected. The operation was supposed to be the first of a series targeting members of the British military and political establishment. The same informer was responsible for the arrest of another INLA team in a quarry in Somerset in 1993.^[204][205]

References for this year:^{[206][207][193]}

1985[]

• 4 January: an INLA unit carried out a failed attempt to assassinate Reverend Ian Paisley in Belfast. INLA volunteers went to his church where they believed he was to give a sermon but somebody else stood in for him that morning. The volunteers were spotted and the operation was aborted. In an interview with journalist Vincent Browne an INLA representative said regarding the action:^[201]

We see Paisley and indeed all shades of Loyalism as manifested in politicians as being another weapon in the armoury of Britain and as such, we would contend that they are as legitimate targets as the British soldiers.

• 16 January: an INLA unit fired several shots at an RUC mobile patrol in the vicinity of Mountpottinger RUC station in the Short Strand area of Belfast.^[208]
• 18 January: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb attack targeting a senior judge in Belfast. INLA members lobbed a bomb at the judge's car but it failed to explode. A prosecutor instead of the targeted judge was in the car.^[209][201]
• 21 January: an RUC Reserve officer was shot and seriously wounded in an INLA attack at Downe Hospital, Downpatrick, County Down.^[210][201]
• 23 January: an INLA unit fired several shots at an RUC mobile patrol in the Unity Flats area of Belfast.^[208]
• 17 February: the INLA were responsible for several bomb hoaxes in Belfast.^[210]
• 24 February: the INLA shot dead a former UDR soldier (Douglas McElhinney) on Glenvale Road, off Northland Road, Derry.^[211]
• 27 February: an INLA bomb destroyed a petrol station near Windsor Park, Belfast. Earlier in the day the English football team played a match against Northern Ireland in the stadium and an INLA statement warned there would be further such attacks. Several high-profile sporting events were cancelled as a result.^[212][213]
• March: Sinn Féin alleged that the INLA were responsible for the kidnapping of a publican's daughter in Derry. She was released after the IRA threatened to shoot those responsible.^[214]
• 20 April: the INLA claimed responsibility for firebombing a store in Dublin which was selling South African goods in protest against the apartheid regime. There were no injuries as the building had been cleared following a telephone warning.^[215]
• May: the INLA tried to assassinate IRSP/INLA member Gerry Roche near Shannon, County Clare. Internal dispute. Allegedly, the INLA Chief of Staff John O'Reilly's gun jammed, and a second attacker fired several shots but missed. A third gunman refused to fire at his former party chairman.^[201][216]
• 9 May: the INLA abducted and killed a former member of the organisation (Seamus Ruddy) in France. The 32-year-old from Newry, County Down was found at Pont-de-l’Arche, near Rouen in northern France in May 2017.
• 14 May: the INLA claimed responsibility for two incendiary devices planted in business premises in Belfast city centre.^[217]
• 16 May: INLA snipers exchanged fire with RUC officers during rioting in Derry.^[218]
• 24 May: an RUC officer was injured after several shots were fired at a police patrol in Derry. It was one of several gun attacks on the security forces by the INLA in Derry that summer, including another incident in which an RUC officer was injured.^{[219][214][201]}
• 27 June: a Garda officer (Patrick Morrissey) was killed following the robbery of a post office in Ardee, County Louth. Two INLA members were later charged and sentenced to death.^[220]
• 7 July: an INLA bomb exploded outside a pub in Banbridge, County Down, slightly injuring one person. The INLA claimed the premises was targeted because it was frequented by members of British security forces.^[221]
• 19 July: a prison officer escaped injury when an INLA bomb was discovered under his car outside his home in Curryneerin near Derry.^[222][223]
• 27 July: an INLA bomb planted outside a pub in Banbridge, County Down, was defused by the British Army. It was the third such bomb in the town in two months.^[222]
• 9 August: a train travelling from Belfast to Dublin was severely damaged after the INLA planted several incendiary bombs in the carriages. Passengers were evacuated at Newry, County Down after phone calls warning of the attack.^[224][222]
• 24 August: the INLA informed the RUC they had left a bomb under a bridge at Killeavy, South Armagh. The bomb was actually rigged to the doorbell of a nearby home whose owner they had taken hostage, intended for the security forces. A neighbour who called to warn of the bomb alert was seriously injured.^[225][226]
• 29 August: the INLA exploded a bomb on a train outside the Belfast central railway station injuring seven RUC officers & two members of the train stations staff and badly damaging a number of carriages.^[227]
• 9 September: an INLA member from County Dublin (James Burnett) was found shot dead in Killeen, County Armagh, as an alleged informer.
• 29 September: an INLA incendiary bomb left in a nightclub exploded in Newry, County Down. The intended targets were off-duty RUC officers known to frequent the club. Two employees were seriously injured, one losing a hand and another suffering damaged eyes.^{[78][228][229]}
• 12 November: two bombs planted by the INLA were defused outside Chelsea Barracks in London.^[230]

References for this year:^{[210][211][231]}

1986[]

• 3 January: the INLA kidnapped a businessman in Derry. He was found several days later in the Shantallow area of Derry by the RUC following a large-scale search operation. Sinn Féin alleged it was the fourth INLA kidnapping in Derry in ten months.^[232][214]
• 3 April: the INLA claimed responsibility for a bomb planted in the council offices in Newry. The RUC had previously used the premises.^[233]
• 5 April: a bomb exploded prematurely in the King Arthur Bar in Belfast city centre seriously injuring the two INLA volunteers planting the device. Two civilians present were also treated for injuries. The explosion blew out the windows of the pub, showering glass on the street below.^{[234][235][236]}
• 15 May: an RUC station in Derry was hit by INLA sniper fire
• 28 August: the INLA claimed responsibility for bomb attacks across Northern Ireland: two proxy car bombs exploded outside the RUC bases in Newry and Downpatrick, a third bomb exploded in a disused factory in Derry (which security forces said was designed to lure them to a booby-trap bomb left in a car) and a fifth and sixth bombs exploded in Antrim, one of which was found under an RUC officer's car. A seventh bomb exploded in the toilets of Belfast Central Railway station.^[237][238]
• 30 August: a taxi driver was abducted by the INLA and forced to leave a car bomb outside a pub in Antrim, which later exploded causing extensive damage. The owner of the taxi firm was threatened with death if he didn't make a public statement refusing to accept fares from security force members. Pubs who served members of the security forces were also threatened.^[239]
• 22 September: a 50 lb (23 kg) INLA bomb left outside the British Legion hall in Killyleagh, Co. Down was defused by the British Army.^[240][75]
• 28 September: the INLA claimed responsibility for a 40 lb (18 kg) bomb planted outside a pub in Downpatrick, County Down, which they alleged served off-duty members of the security forces.^[241] An RUC officer carried the bomb to a field about 80 yards (73 m) away, where it exploded after 15 minutes.^[242] Later the RUC intercepted a three-car convoy carrying bombs nearby and four people were arrested. One car exploded as a British Army bomb disposal team attempted to defuse it, another escaped after crashing through the checkpoint and being fired on by RUC officers.^[243]
• 14 October: an INLA sniper injured a RUC officer in north Belfast.
• 20 November: at least fifteen INLA members were photographed by journalists posing with automatic weapons in an undisclosed location in South Armagh. The incident angered Unionist politicians and Northern Ireland Office Minister Nicholas Scott endorsed new laws to combat paramilitary displays in response.^[244][245]
• 24 November: an INLA bomb attack on the home of Unionist Party Councillor Sam McCarney failed.^{[citation needed]}
• 21 December : the breakaway IPLO shot dead an INLA volunteer (Thomas McCartan) in Belfast. It marked the beginning of a feud between the two republican groups.^[246]

1987[]

• 1 January: a 72-year-old woman (Iris Farley) was shot and seriously injured when the INLA carried out a gun attack on the home of a UDR soldier in Bessbrook, Co. Armagh. She died five weeks later.^[247]
• 1 January: part of the Newry-Dundalk road in County Armagh closed after the INLA claimed to have left a bomb there.^[248]
• 8 January: the INLA claimed responsibility for shooting and wounding Unionist politician David Calvert as he got into his car outside his business at Craigavon Shopping Centre, County Armagh. His eleven-year-old daughter narrowly escaped injury. An INLA statement said "the campaign in the weeks to come will show that we are far from being a spent force" and threatened further attacks on Unionist politicians ^[249]
• 20 January: the IPLO shot dead INLA members Thomas 'Ta' Power and John O'Reilly in Rossnaree Hotel, Drogheda, County Louth (See:Rosnaree Hotel shooting).
• 28 January: the IPLO tried to kill INLA member Emmanuel Gargan in the Lower Ormeau, Belfast. He was wounded in another attempt two days later.
• 30 January: a man claiming to be from the INLA told a journalist that the organisation was responsible for a major fire at council offices in Newry, County Armagh. He claimed four incendiary offices had been planted, three of which detonated.^[250]
• 31 January: Mary McGlinchey, an INLA activist and wife of INLA leader Dominic McGlinchey was shot dead at her home in Dundalk, County Louth. It has never been established who was responsible or why.
• 5 February: the INLA shot dead a member of the IPLO (Tony McCluskey) in Middletown, County Armagh as part of a republican feud.
• 18 February: the IPLO shot dead an INLA volunteer (Michael Kearney) in the Ballymurphy area of Belfast as part of a republican feud.
• 5 March: crude incendiary devices started fires in the high-security cells of two prisoners in Portlaoise Prison. Prison sources claimed it was linked to the ongoing INLA feud.^[251]
• 7 March: the INLA shot dead a member of the IPLO (Thomas Maguire) near Forkill as part of a republican feud.
• 10 March: the IPLO shot and wounded the chairman of the IRSP Kevin McQuillan at his home in Springfield Park, Belfast. His brother was also wounded in the attack.
• 14 March: the INLA shot dead an IPLO member (Fergus Conlon) near Forkill as part of a republican feud.
• 15 March: the INLA attacked the car of IPLO member Gerard Steenson in Ballymurphy, Belfast. Steenson and his passenger (Tony McCarthy, also a member of the IPLO) were killed, as part of a republican feud.
• 21 March: the IPLO shot dead an INLA volunteer (Emmanuel Gargan) in the Hatfield Bar, Belfast, as part of a republican feud.
• 22 March: the IPLO shot dead an INLA volunteer (Kevin Duffy) in Armagh as part of a republican feud.
• 26 June: Elizabeth Nicholson, the wife of Unionist politician Jim Nicholson, escaped unharmed after several shots were fired at her while she was driving. The RUC believed a gang led by Dessie O'Hare was responsible.^[252]
• 4 October: the "South Armagh INLA" claimed responsibility for a man found shot dead (James McDaid) in an abandoned car near Crossmaglen, County Armagh. The INLA denied responsibility. The gang led by Dessie O'Hare was blamed.^[253]
• 10 October: an INLA member (Colm Maguire) died in Portlaoise prison shortly after ending a hunger strike.^[254]
• 14 October: Dessie O'Hare and three other INLA members, calling themselves the "Irish Revolutionary Brigade" or "Independent South Armagh INLA",^[255] kidnapped John O'Grady, a dentist from Dublin, and demanded a IR£1.5m ransom. The gang had intended to seize Austin Darragh, owner of the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, but Darragh had moved three years previously from the house, which was occupied by O'Grady, his son-in-law.^[256]
• 27 October: Dessie O'Hare's gang escaped with kidnapped Dublin dentist John O’Grady from Gardaí after an exchange of gunfire at Ballyedmond near Midleton, County Cork. A Garda patrol became suspicious of a container on a farm and as reinforcements arrived they were ambushed by members of the gang.^[257]
• 5 November: John O'Grady was rescued by Gardaí in Cabra, North Dublin, only an hour before a £1.5m ransom was due to be handed over. A Garda detective was seriously wounded in the gun battle. The kidnappers escaped by taking two civilians hostage and forcing them to drive to Limerick.^[258]
• 27 November: an INLA member (Martin Bryan) was shot dead at an Irish Defence Forces check point in Urlingford, County Kilkenny. He was travelling in a car with Dessie O'Hare who was shot eight times during the exchange of fire before being arrested. A soldier was also wounded in the incident.^[259]
• 8 December: a civilian (Patrick Cunningham) was found shot dead in an outbuilding at an unoccupied farm, Errybane, near Castleblayney, County Monaghan on 8 December 1987. He had been abducted in May 1987; it is believed the killing was related to the INLA/IPLO feud.

References for this year:^[260][261]

1988[]

• January: a suspected informer survived a murder attempt following an INLA interrogation in Downpatrick, County Down.^[262]
• 25 April: the INLA sent threats to workers at the Department of Health and Social Services in Derry. They alleged an outside DHSS team was investigating social security fraud in the city. The INLA withdrew their threat the next day after thirty labour exchanges went on strike in protest.^[263]
• 13 June: the INLA detonated a bomb at an international bowling tournament being held at Ward Park, Bangor, County Down which was to involve the Israeli bowling team. An INLA statement said the attack was "in solidarity with Palestinians expelled from their lands".^[14][264]
• 10 August: the British Army shot dead an INLA member (James McPhilemy) during a gun attack on a vehicle checkpoint in Clady, County Tyrone. The two other INLA members involved escaped across the border after a brief gun battle with British soldiers. McPhilemy was armed with only a pistol; Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams described the operation as "suicidal" and called on the INLA to disband.^{[265][266][14]}
• 17 August: the INLA shot dead an ex-member of the UVF (Frederick Otley) at his shop on the Shankill Road, Belfast.^[267]
• 3 November: the INLA shot and injured an RUC officer in Warringstown, County Down as he collected his four-year-old son at school.^[268][269]

1989[]

• 17 February: the INLA shot and wounded a former UDR soldier in Main Street, Ballynahinch, County Down. A woman nearby was also injured.^[270]
• 28 August: an INLA sniper fired on a joint British Army-RUC checkpoint in Strabane, County Tyrone with a .303 rifle.^[271] It was one of several INLA gun attacks on British Army checkpoints in the region in 1989.^[272]
• 4 October: the INLA was blamed for the kidnapping of a man in County Louth. Gardaí were not informed of the abduction for 16 hours and a motive wasn't established.^[273]
• 29 December: the INLA threatened to kill a man living in Strabane, County Tyrone unless he left the country within 48 hours. An INLA spokesman claimed the man had been involved in anti-social behaviour.^[274]

1990s[]

1990[]

• 22 July: an alleged informant being interrogated by the INLA was rescued by RUC officers in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. The INLA had been intending to kill him but the RUC intervened and arrested two senior INLA men.^[275]
• 29 September: the INLA issued a threat to journalists who "confuse" their organisation with the rival IPLO that they would "bear the consequences".^[276]
• 12 November: undercover British soldiers shot dead an INLA volunteer (Alexander Patterson) after a drive-by-shooting targeting the home of an off-duty UDR soldier in Victoria Bridge near Strabane, County Tyrone. The UDR soldier and his family had moved out beforehand so an SAS unit could take up positions inside and return fire. Two INLA gunmen fled the vehicle after it crashed but Alexander, the driver, allegedly believed he was safe because he was an informer and had tipped off the security forces about the attack.^{[277][278][279][280][281]}

1991[]

• 29 June: the INLA shot dead one of its own members (Gerard Burns) as an alleged informer. Burns' body was found at the back of a house in New Barnsley Park, Ballymurphy, Belfast.
• 17 August: the INLA carried out a gun attack on the home of an RUC officer in Armagh, County Armagh. The policeman's wife escaped injury after gunmen fired ten bullets into a bedroom.^[282]
• 28 November: INLA gunmen took over the North Down home of Lawrence Kennedy, leader of the Conservative Party in Northern Ireland, and held his family hostage while waiting for him to return from a medical conference in England. His wife activated a hidden alarm and the gunmen surrendered to a Catholic Priest when the RUC surrounded the house.^[283][284]
• 21 December: the INLA shot dead a Protestant civilian (Robin Farmer) at his family's shop, Killyman Street, Moy; his father, a former RUC officer, was the intended target. Sinn Féin representative Francie Molloy called for the INLA to disband following the killing, but the INLA retorted that "Councillor Molloy has a small memory when it comes to mistakes and accidents that can occur. He should have a good look at the IRA's track record on accidental deaths."^[285] The IRA had tried to kill Robin Farmer's father earlier in 1991 with an under-car bomb.^[286]

References for this year:^{[283][287][288][289]}

1992[]

• 13 March: the INLA claimed responsibility for slightly wounding a Protestant taxi driver in a gun attack at York Street Station, Belfast.^[290]
• 1 April: the INLA claimed responsibility for shots fired at an RUC checkpoint in West Belfast.^{[citation needed]}
• 13 April : the INLA shot a British soldier (Michael Newman) outside a recruiting office in Derby, England. He died of his wounds the following day.^[291][292]
• 18 June: nine incendiary devices were planted in various stores in Leeds, England. Four of the devices went off, causing over £50,000 worth of damages.^[293] Two INLA volunteers were convicted of conspiracy to cause arson, Eamonn O'Donnell was jailed for twenty years and Sean Cruickshank for 15 years.^[294]
• 24 August: the INLA claimed responsibility for seriously injuring a Protestant man in a shooting on Oldpark Road, Belfast. A getaway car, hijacked earlier, was later found abandoned in the Ardoyne area.^[295][296]
• 1 October: the INLA claimed responsibility for injuring a Protestant man in a shooting in the Annadale area of south Belfast. His family denied he was a member of any Loyalist paramilitary organisation.^[297]
• 10 December: the INLA shot and seriously injured a man who worked for Belfast City Council. The INLA's claim of responsibility named a different individual; their intended target was the victim's brother, leading UFF member Joe Bratty.^[298][299]
• 24 December: the INLA launched a gun attack on Grosvenor Road RUC station, Belfast. No injuries were reported. The attack was carried out during the Provisional IRA's three-day Christmas ceasefire.^[300][14]
• 29 December: the INLA claimed responsibility for the attempted killing of a taxi driver on the Ormeau Road, Belfast. A lone gunman fired several shots before fleeing.^[301]

1993[]

• 14 January: the INLA claimed responsibility for attempting to kill prominent loyalist John "Bunter" Graham. He was hit by rifle shots fired through the window of his home in the Shankill area of Belfast but survived.^[302]
• 21 January: the INLA shot dead (Samuel Rock) at his home on Rosewood Street, Lower Oldpark, Belfast, claiming that he was a UDA member. Rock's family denied the claim. It was reported that Rock had recently purchased a car from a loyalist in the Shankill area and the killing may thus have been a case of mistaken identity. CAIN lists Rock as a Protestant civilian.^[303]
• 7 February: two INLA members were arrested trying to steal explosives from a quarry in Somerset, England for a new bombing campaign. They walked into a police ambush which was sprung prematurely when an INLA man stepped on a concealed police marksman. A third INLA volunteer escaped.^[304]
• 18 February: an INLA assassination attempt targeting a Royal Irish Regiment soldier was foiled by his mother, who blocked gunmen from entering their Belfast home.^[305]
• 30 April: an INLA attack on a Protestant taxi-driver failed when the gun jammed in Botanic Avenue, Belfast. One man was arrested shortly afterwards.^[306][307]
• 17 June: a retired RUC officer (John Patrick Murphy) was shot dead by INLA gunmen inside the York Hotel, Botanic Avenue, Belfast.^[211]
• 20 July: a man was shot several times and seriously wounded in Dunmurray, Belfast. The INLA claimed he was a member of the Royal Irish Regiment but this was denied by the RUC.^[306][308]
• 24 August: an RUC officer was injured after INLA members opened fire from a hijacked vehicle at Grosvenor Road RUC station, Belfast.^[306][309]
• 6 September: a member of the UDA was wounded in an INLA attack while sitting in his car outside his home in the Shankill area of Belfast.^{[310][311][312]}
• 18 October: a leading UDA member escaped from two INLA gunmen who entered his home in a Protestant area of Suffolk, south Belfast. Before leaving they fired several shots above the heads of the man's family.^[306][313]
• 19 October: three INLA gunmen were arrested by the RUC near the home of Johnny Adair, a senior member of the UDA/UFF.^[314]

References for this year:^{[306][315][316]}

1994[]

• 10 February: Dominic McGlinchey, the INLA's former Chief of Staff, was shot dead in Drogheda. He had survived a previous assassination attempt in June 1993.^[317] It has never been established who was responsible or why.
• 12 February: the INLA shot and injured a Protestant man in the loyalist Tigers Bay area. A brick was thrown through the window of his Bentinck Street house and several shots were fired.^[318][319]
• 24 February: The INLA shot dead a security guard (Jack Smyth) at the entrance to Bob Cratchits Bar, Lisburn Road, Belfast. The INLA claimed he was a member of a UDA/UFF unit responsible for rocket attacks against Republican targets in the city, but CAIN lists Smyth as a civilian.^[318]
• 27 April: the INLA shot dead a member of the UDA (Gerald Evans) at his fishing tackle shop, Northcott Shopping Centre, Ballyclare Road, Glengormley, County Antrim. Another man was also injured in the attack.^[318]
• 3 May: the INLA shot dead a civilian (Thomas Douglas) outside his workplace, Northern Ireland Electricity Headquarters, Stranmillis Road, Belfast. The INLA claimed he was a founder of Ulster Resistance and sat on the Combined Loyalist Military Command but CAIN lists Douglas as a civilian.^[318][320]
• 16 June: 1994 Shankill Road Killings - INLA volunteers shot dead three UVF volunteers (Trevor King, Colin Craig, David Hamilton) in a gun attack on Shankill Road, Belfast.
• 8 July: INLA gunmen fired on a house in north Belfast.^[321]
• 22 July: a leading member of the Dublin INLA (John Bolger) was killed by a former Belfast INLA gunman. This led to a dispute between the Belfast leadership and the Dublin wing ending with the entire Dublin organisation expelled.^[225]
• 23 September: the UVF tried to kill the INLA Chief of Staff, Hugh Torney in the Lower Falls area of Belfast. UVF gunmen held his family hostage but Torney failed to appear.^[322]

References for this year:^{[323][324][322]}

1995[]

• 5 April: four INLA members were arrested on the main Dublin-Belfast road transporting pistols, assault rifles and about 2,000 rounds of ammunition to Northern Ireland.^[325]
• 1 December: the INLA shot and injured an alleged drug dealer on the Falls Road, west Belfast.^[326][327]

1996[]

• 30 January: the Hugh Torney lead INLA-GHQ faction shot dead the INLA Chief of staff Gino Gallagher, inside Department of Health and Social Services office on Falls Road, Belfast, in the course of an internal dispute.
• 1 February: over 50 shots were fired at an RUC officer's home in Moy, County Tyrone, The INLA was suspected to be responsible.^[328]
• 5 March: an INLA-GHQ volunteer (John Fennell) was beaten to death by the INLA in Bundoran, County Donegal, in the course of an internal dispute.
• 15 March: the INLA shot dead a civilian (Barbara McAlorum, aged 9) by accident in Ashfield Gardens, Belfast; an INLA GHQ Staff relative was the intended target
• 19 March: a man escaped injury in a shooting incident on the Whiterock Road, Belfast. INLA-GHQ faction claimed responsibility.^[329][330]
• 21 March: the INLA-GHQ faction tried to kill two men outside Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. Internal dispute.^[331]
• 22 March: the INLA released a statement referring to a "failure of the political process" and declared INLA units had been placed on standby to "operate from a position of defence and retaliation." Although the INLA hadn't officially been on ceasefire, it had suspended attacks since the summer of 1994, shortly before the Provisional IRA's ceasefire.^[332]
• 13 April: an INLA member was shot and moderately wounded in West Belfast as part of an internal feud.^[333]
• 16 May: a bomb planted under a car in the visitors car park inside Maghaberry Prison was defused by the British Army. The car belonged to the father of Barbara McAlorum, shot dead in March. Internal dispute.^[334]
• 25 May: an INLA-GHQ volunteer (Dessie McCleery) was shot dead by INLA on Bankmore Street, Belfast, in the course of an internal dispute.
• 9 June: an INLA-GHQ volunteer (Francis Shannon) was shot dead by INLA in the Turf Lodge area of Belfast, in the course of an internal dispute.^[329]
• 12 July: three RUC officers were wounded in two separate gun attacks by the INLA during rioting over the Drumcree dispute. At approximately 1:40 AM two RUC officers were shot during disturbances in the Ardoyne area of Belfast. Around half an hour later a gunman opened fire on a police vehicle on Duncairn Gardens. A bullet passed through one of the doors and hit a police officer inside on the arm. It was the first confirmed paramilitary action against British security forces since the IRA cease fire of August 31, 1994.^[335]
• 13 July: a former INLA volunteer (Dermot "Tonto" McShane) was crushed by a British army vehicle during a night of rioting.^[336][337]
• 13 July: several INLA gunmen, armed with AK-47 rifles,^[338] opened fire on the New Barnsley police station in West Belfast. There were two attacks, about three hours apart, in which allegedly "hundreds of rounds" were fired.^[339] RUC officers returned fire with tracers and flares. A witness described it as the most intense gun battle at the base since the 1980s.^[340][341]
• 27 July: a female caller, claiming to be from the INLA, warned a newspaper that devices had been left in the Woodbourne and Oldpark areas of Belfast. Security forces found a suspect device under a car in Woodbourne and another in Oldpark.^[342]
• 16 August: an INLA member was shot and seriously wounded in an ambush in West Belfast. Part of an internal feud.
• 3 September: INLA-GHQ Staff leader Hugh Torney was shot dead by INLA volunteers in Lurgan, in the course of an internal dispute.

References for this year:^[343][336]

1997[]

• 17 March: an INLA plan to kill Billy Hutchinson, member of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP), and former UVF volunteer, as he left a radio interview on Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, was foiled by security forces.^[344][345] The attempt followed an INLA threat to avenge the murder of a Catholic man, John Slane, who was shot by unknown Loyalists three days earlier.^[346]
• 28 April: INLA prisoners at Maghaberry Prison held a prison officer hostage at gunpoint with a 9mm pistol & a Zip Gun before giving themselves up. The prisoners were protesting at the transfer of Billy Wright, then leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF), from Maghaberry to the Maze Prison.^{[347][348][349]}
• 9 May: the INLA shot dead an off-duty RUC officer (Darren Bradshaw) as he drank with friends in the Parliament Bar, frequented by members of Belfast's gay community.
• 4 June: an INLA volunteer (John Morris) was shot dead by the Gardaí during an armed robbery in Inchicore, Dublin.
• 7 July: INLA gunmen fired on British soldiers in Ardoyne, Belfast as part of the widespread violence that followed Mo Mowlam's decision over the Drumcree parade. See: 1997 nationalist riots in Northern Ireland.^[350]
• 7 July: the INLA carried out gun attacks on British security forces in West Belfast.^[351]
• 8 July: the INLA claimed responsibility for several gun and grenade attacks in the preceding days and threatened to attack Orangemen whom it viewed as responsible for forcing parades through Nationalist areas. Earlier RUC intelligence reports warned that an INLA cell based in the Markets area of Belfast had been ordered to open fire on a contentious Orange Order parade as it passed along the Lower Ormeau.^{[352][353][354]}
• 11 July: INLA gunmen fired across a peaceline, injuring two Protestant teenagers at an Eleventh Night bonfire in North Belfast. One of the youths, a 14-year-old schoolboy, underwent emergency surgery.^[355][356]
• 10 August: the INLA staged a show of force involving armed members posing with weapons for a cameraman in west Belfast, timed to coincide with a Sinn Féin rally. The INLA later released a statement that called the recent IRA ceasefire "bogus"^[357]
• 18 September: a grenade thrown by the INLA was defused by army technical experts outside of a police station in the Creggan area of Derry.^[358][359]
• 25 September: two grenades were thrown by the INLA at Willowfield RUC Station on the Woodstock Road in east Belfast and Ballynafeigh RUC Station on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast. Neither exploded.^[360]
• 27 December: INLA prisoners shot dead Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) leader and fellow prisoner Billy Wright inside Maze Prison.

References for this year:^[357][361]

1998[]

• 1 January: a Protestant family's home in Newtownbutler, County Fermanagh, was sprayed with gunfire, allegedly by an INLA unit.^[362]
• 19 January: the INLA shot dead UDA leader Jim Guiney at his carpet shop in Dunmurry.
• 28 February: INLA volunteers launched a hand grenade attack on RUC officers at Hazelwood Integrated College, Belfast.
• 27 March: the INLA shot dead a former RUC officer (Cyril Stewart) outside a supermarket, off Dobbin Street Lane, Armagh.
• 8 April: the INLA shot dead an ex-member of the UVF and Derry leader of the Loyalist Volunteer Force (Trevor Deeny) outside his home, Hillhampton, off Rossdowney Road, Kilfennan, County Londonderry.
• 9 April: the INLA was believed to be responsible for death threats targeting senior Unionist politicians David Trimble and John Taylor.^[363]
• 17 April: the INLA shot dead a former INLA volunteer and taxi driver (Mark McNeill) while he was getting out of his car, outside taxi depot, Shaws Road, Anderstown, Belfast.^[why?]
• 12 May: the INLA claimed responsibility for a 40 lb (18 kg) landmine abandoned on Whiterock Road, Belfast. It was found and defused by the British Army after a 24-hour security operation.^[364]
• June: senior UDA/UFF member Johnny Adair, then a prisoner in the Maze, was warned by the RUC that the INLA intended to assassinate him. Allegedly according to INLA sources the group had smuggled a quantity of strychnine into the prison as part of one abortive plot to poison a body-building drink in the hope Adair would drink it.^[103]
• 24 June: the INLA claimed responsibility for a 200 lb (91 kg) car bomb that exploded in the centre of Newtownhamilton, County Armagh. The group issued a 50-minute warning about the bomb, but people were still being evacuated when it exploded and six people were injured. The Real IRA (RIRA) provided the Semtex explosives and CAIN lists them as the perpetrators.^[365] See: Newtownhamilton bombing
• 10 July: INLA members were said to be involved in a RIRA operation targeting London's transport system and commercial premises that was foiled following the arrest of several suspected activists in Ireland and England. Police in London retrieved a cache of incendiary devices and a small Semtex bomb.^[366]
• 13 July: two suspect packages were left at an Orange hall in East Belfast. The INLA is believed to have been responsible.^[367]
• 17 August: the IRSP, the INLA's political wing, issued a statement after the Omagh bombing calling on the INLA to end their armed struggle.^[368]
• 22 August: after a 24-year campaign, the INLA declared a ceasefire.
• 23 August: Christopher "Crip" McWilliams, then OC of the Irish National Liberation Army in the Maze Prison, declared that the "war is over".^[369]

References for this year:^[370][371]

1999[]

• 8 August: the INLA declared the "war is over" but said it would not decommission its weapons.
• 10 October: INLA volunteer Patrick Campbell was killed in a confrontation with a criminal gang in Dublin. The event dubbed the "Ballymount Bloodbath" saw the INLA tie up and torture a criminal gang before associates of the gang entered armed with machetes to free them. Campbell was stabbed and bled to death.

References for this year:^[372][373]

2000s-2010s[]

2000[]

• 29 April: the INLA shot dead Patrick Neville on stairway in block of flats, near to his home, St. Michael's estate, Inchicore, Dublin. The INLA claimed he was part of the gang responsible for killing Patrick Campbell in October 1999.^[374]

2001[]

• October: the INLA tried to assassinate a man with an under-car bomb in Dublin, but the device failed to explode properly. The INLA succeeded in killing the intended victim (Donnie Draper) in June 2003; they believed he had been involved in the killing of Patrick Campbell in October 1999^[375]
• 29 October: INLA members were blamed by police for shooting dead a former loyalist prisoner (Charles Christopher Folliard) in Strabane, County Tyrone.^[376]
• 12 December: an ex-INLA member from Dublin (Derek Lenehan) died several hours after being found shot in the legs by the INLA at the side of New Road, near Forkhill, County Armagh. It was believed that he had been shot because of an internal INLA dispute .^[377]

2002[]

• 12 January: the PSNI discovered explosives and weapons during the search of a house in north Belfast. The haul included 4 blast bombs, an anti-personnel mine containing high explosive, two detonators, a sub-machine gun, ammunition, and a shotgun. They were believed to have belonged to the INLA. Afterwards a man was arrested.^[378]
• 22 July: the INLA shot and injured a young Protestant man in the Ardoyne area of Belfast.^[379]
• 15 October: the INLA claimed responsibility for the punishment shooting of a man in Strabane, County Tyrone. In a statement issued six days later the INLA claimed the man been engaged in a campaign of smears, intimidation, and arson against IRSP members.^[380][379]

2003[]

• 14 June: the INLA shot dead Donnie Draper outside a pub where he worked as a doorman a Eden Quay, allegedly as revenge for the killing of Patrick Campbell in October 1999.^[381][382]

2004[]

• 3 June: the INLA shot dead a former INLA member (Kevin McAlorum) outside a primary school in Derriaghy on the outskirts of Belfast. He was allegedly responsible for the murder of INLA Chief of Staff Gino Gallagher in 1996.^[383][384]

2007[]

• 3 June: the INLA claimed responsibility for the shooting death of a doorman/bouncer and drug dealer, Brian McGlynn, in Derry. However, it was reported that "[D]espite the INLA's claim, some security and republican sources continue to suspect the Provisional IRA had a role in the murder. They said McGlynn's behaviour had upset the Provisional IRA in recent weeks."^[385]

2008[]

• 30 June: the INLA performed a full-scale paramilitary funeral for former INLA volunteer Christopher "Crip" McWilliams. They also attacked Martin McGuinness saying "We have a message for the British micro minister and macro hypocrite Martin McGuinness -- we are not going away."^[386]

2009[]

• 15 February: the INLA shot dead an alleged drug dealer, Jim McConnell, in Derry.
• 19 August: the INLA shot and wounded a man in Derry. The INLA claimed that the man was involved in drug dealing although the injured man and his family denied the allegation.^[387] However, in a newspaper article on 28 August the victim retracted his previous statement and admitted he had been involved in small scale drug-dealing but had since ceased these activities.^[388]
• 11 October: speaking at the graveside of Seamus Costello in Bray, the INLA formally announced an end to its armed campaign, stating that the current situation allows it pursue its goals through peaceful political means.^[389]

2010[]

• 8 February: it was announced that the INLA had put its weapons out of commission.

2013[]

• 21 March: Sinn Féin blamed elements close to the INLA for shooting two men in the legs in Derry, and urged those close to the INLA to pass on any information they have.^[390]

2015[]

• 9 February: INLA members were suspected of being responsible for several under-car bombs across Belfast. One device went off destroying a car on St James's Road while two others in North and South Belfast failed to detonate. It was suggested that the bombs were part of a “drugs turf war”.^[391]
• 18 July: a large-scale paramilitary display was organised by the INLA at the funeral in Derry of Peggy O'Hara, the mother of 1981 hunger striker Patsy O’Hara. Shots were fired over her coffin.^[392]
• 4 November: a paramilitary display by the INLA took place at the funeral of Declan McGlinchey, son of former INLA leader, Dominic McGlinchey, who was shot dead in Drogheda in 1994.^[393][394]

2018[]

• 4 December: Jim Donegan was murdered as he sat in his car outside a school on the Glen Road in west Belfast. The PSNI said the INLA and ONH were involved.^[395]

See also[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northern Ireland Troubles.

• List of weapons used by the Irish National Liberation Army
• Timeline of Irish People's Liberation Organisation actions
• Timeline of Provisional Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Official Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Continuity Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of Real Irish Republican Army actions
• Timeline of the Northern Ireland Troubles
• Timeline of Ulster Defence Association actions
• Timeline of Ulster Volunteer Force actions

References[]