1971 Scottish soldiers' killings
IRA shooting in Belfast, Northern Ireland / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings took place in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. On 10 March 1971, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot dead three off-duty British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers. The soldiers were from Scotland and two were teenage brothers. They were lured from a pub in Belfast where they had been drinking, driven to a remote location and shot by the roadside. Three British soldiers had been killed before this, but all had been killed during rioting.
1971 Scottish soldiers' murders | |
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Part of The Troubles | |
Location | White Brae, North Belfast, Northern Ireland |
Coordinates | 54°38′6.46″N 5°59′35.9″W |
Date | 10 March 1971 |
Target | British Army personnel |
Attack type | Shooting |
Deaths | 3 |
Perpetrators | Provisional IRA |
The deaths led to public mourning and protests against the IRA. Pressure to act spurred a political crisis for the Northern Ireland Government, which led to the resignation of James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The British Army raised the minimum age needed to serve in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to this incident. In 2010, a memorial was dedicated to the three soldiers near the site of their deaths.
Three IRA members were later named as being responsible, one of whom was a former British soldier.