1993 Fivemiletown ambush | |||||||
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Part of the Troubles and Operation Banner | |||||||
![]() A British soldier watching the scene of the ambush | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() • East Tyrone Brigade[1] |
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Strength | |||||||
2 active service units |
1 RUC mobile patrol 1 British Army helicopter | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None | 2 constables killed | ||||||
Location within Northern Ireland |
On 12 December 1993, a unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army's (IRA) East Tyrone Brigade ambushed a two-men unmarked mobile patrol of the RUC in Fivemiletown, County Tyrone. Two constables (Andrew Beacom and Ernest Smith) were shot and killed instantly. A military helicopter was also fired at by a second IRA unit in the aftermath of the incident, during a follow-up operation launched in the surroundings of the town by both the British Army and the RUC. A number of suspects were questioned, but the perpetrators escaped successfully. The action occurred just three days before the Downing Street Declaration.
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