BALLYGAWLEY BUS BOMB 30 YEARS ON
NI WOMAN MEETS WITH EX-SOLDIER WHOSE LIFE SHE HELPED TO SAVE WITNESSES TO IRA MASSACRE TELL HOW THEY ‘LOOKED INTO HELL’
VICTIMS and survivors of the 1988 Ballygawley bus bombing — one of the deadliest attacks on the Army during the Troubles — will be remembered at a special commemoration tomorrow.
It will mark 30 years since the roadside bomb attack which killed eight young soldiers and injured a further 28. They had been en route to their Omagh base after returning from leave.
As they passed through the townland of Curr in the early hours of August 20, the Provisional IRA detonated a 200lb bomb which had been planted in a nearby vehicle.
The force of the explosion hurled the bus 30 metres down the road, threw soldiers into neighbouring fields and left a six-foot crater behind it, scattering wreckage at least 100 yards.
Shortly afterwards the Provisionals claimed responsibility, saying its Tyrone ‘brigade’ carried out the attack and adding: “We will not lay down our arms until the peace of a British disengagement from Ireland.”
Many families and individuals connected with the soldiers’ regiment will return to Omagh this weekend to remember those murdered.
The services and events, which come days after this week’s commemorations for the 1998 Omagh bomb, have been planned by South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF), a local victims’ support organisation which has worked collaboratively with Ballygawley residents over the years.
SEFF has supported the return of the families to the scene where their lives forever changed to mark the 30th anniversary — both those who lost their lives and those who were and remain affected by the attack.
At 10am, survivors and relatives of the soldiers who lost their lives will attend a ceremony held at the site, where there will be an opportunity for wreaths and poppy crosses bearing messages to be laid.
A replacement memorial and panels explaining what occurred on the Co Tyrone road in 1988 will also be dedicated during the hour-long service, organised by SEFF.
This will be followed by a morning prayer service in New-townsaville Church of Ireland at 11.30am. This will include a special act of remembrance in respect of those murdered on August 20, 1988, prayers for their families and for the surviving injured.
Kenny Donaldson (below), director of services at SEFF, said the events are designed to bring together all those affected by the atrocity.
“Over the weekend leading up to the 30th anniversary we have arranged a variety of events for everyone impacted by the bus bombing, he said.
“This includes the medical physicians, local police and military response, fire service or ambulance personnel, locals living on the Ballygawley Road, the band buses which were following the soldiers’ bus and who came to the scene and heroically offered what assistance they could and others who came upon the scene.”
The 52-seater unmarked Ulsterbus coach had been transporting 36 soldiers of the 1st battalion of the Army’s Light Infantry Regiment from Belfast International Airport back to Lisanelly Barracks in Omagh. Eight soldiers from England, aged from 18 to 21, were killed, all but one dying instantly, with another 18 wounded.
The security forces suspected that an informer may have told the IRA of the bus route and the time it would be at a specific spot. Following the attack, the military started ferrying troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter to stop future attacks.
There was evidence, given the fact the explosive used was Semtex, that the Libyan government had supplied the material. Ten days later, three members of Tyrone IRA suspected of having carried out the bombing were killed by the SAS.
The Omagh Protestant Boys Flute Band and the Londonderry marching band Star of the Valley, who came across the scene on their way home from an event in Portadown, stopped their buses.
A number of bandsmen and women helped the wounded and dying soldiers and were soon joined by local people, as well as the emergency services.
The dead were Jason Burfitt (19), Richard Greener (21), Mark Morsworthy (18), Stephen Wilkinson (18), Jason Winter (19), Blair Bishop (19), Alexander Lewis (18) and Peter Bullock (21).
All had been returning to Tyrone to complete six months of a two-year tour.