VIDEO & PICS: Irish soldiers use cover of darkness to storm stronghold

Amid the crackle of gunfire, billowing smoke, and explosions from grenades, Irish troops launched a seaborne attack on an enemy stronghold, eventually subduing its defenders.

At 4am during the past three days, soldiers from the 12th Battalion clambered ashore under the cover of darkness from rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) and fought their way inch by inch through bunkers, tunnels, and fortified buildings in an urban warfare training exercise in Co Cork.

The simulated battle, involving 150 infantry, took place at Fort Davis, Whitegate, which is the Defence Forces training camp for exercises in a programme called Military Operations in Urban Terrain.