Inquiry urged into soldiers’ killing of civilians

Amnesty International

The Military Reaction

Force (MRF) carried

out drive-by shootings

ofnationalists manning

barricades to keep out

loyalists 40 years

ago, althoughthere was

no independent

evidence that any were

paramilitaries, a BBC

Panorama documentary

has claimed.

The elite soldiers

believed military

regulations

prohibiting firing

unlesstheir lives were

in danger did not

apply to them.

Amnesty Northern

Ireland director

Patrick Corrigan said

the revelations

“underline our call

for the UK government

to establish a new

over-arching mechanism

to investigate human

rights violations and

abuses in Northern

Ireland, whether

carried out by

paramilitary groups or

the securityforces”.

He added: “Victims and

bereaved family

members have a right

to truth and justice.

“Such a process must

focus not just on

those who pulled the

trigger, but also

those in positions of

authority who pulled

the strings.”

Sinn Féin president

Gerry Adams said the

revelations emphasised

the need for a truth

recovery process. “The

BBC programme shines a

light on one aspect of

Britain’s dirty war in

Ireland,” he said .

“The existence of the

MRF and its activities

have been known for

many years but [the]

programme contains new

information and

provides afresh

insight into the use

by the British

government of

counter-gangs and

secret military

units.”

The former soldiers

claimed the unit had

saved many lives. One

said: “We were not

there to act like an

army unit, we were

there to act like a

terror group.

“We were there in a

position to go after

IRA and kill them when

we found them.”

Northern Ireland

attorney general John

Larkin has faced

criticism after

floating the

possibility of ending

prosecutions for

Troubles-related

killings.

More than 3,000 deaths

are being investigated

by detectives from the

Historical Enquiries

Team as part of the

peace process.

The MRF had around 40

hand-picked men from

across the British

army who addressed

each other by first

name and dispensed

with ranks and

identification tags.

They operated at the

height of the Troubles

early in the 1970s.

Another ex-member said

it was part of his

mission to draw out

the IRA andminimise

its activities. “If

they needed shooting

they’d be shot,” he

said.

The army has a series

of rules known as the

Yellow Card, which

guides when a soldier

can open fire

lawfully. Generally,

lethal force was only

lawful when the lives

of members of the

security forces or

others were in

immediate danger.

Another soldier said:

“If you had a player

who was a well-known

shooter whocarried out

quite a lot of

assassinations... it

would have been very

simple, hehad to be

taken out.”

According to the BBC

programme, broadcast

last night, seven

former members of the

force believed the

Yellow Card did not

apply to them and one

described it as a

“fuzzy red line”,

meaning they acted as

they saw fit.

Some said they would

shoot unarmed targets.

The MRF’s records have

been destroyed but the

soldiers denied they

were part of a death

or assassination

squad.

Among those they

killed, in May 1972,

was Patrick McVeigh,

a father of six. His

daughter Patricia

said: “We want the

truth. We don’t want

to stop until we get

the truth.”