Jim Lynagh
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Jim Lynagh (1956 – May 8, 1987), was a Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer. He was killed in a Special Air Service ambush with seven other IRA men at Loughgall, County Armagh, Northern Ireland on May 8 1987.
Lynagh was born and raised in County Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland. He joined the IRA in the early 1970s. In December 1973 he was badly injured in a premature bomb explosion, arrested, and spent five years in Long Kesh prison. While in jail he studied and became a great admirer of Mao Zedong. He was released in early 1979 and in June of that year was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor to Monaghan Urban District Council.
Immediately after his release Lynagh became active in the IRA again, serving with the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade. He quickly became a unit commander and gradually built up his ruthless reputation. After a series of Loyalist attacks against Nationalist politicians in late 1980 and early 1981 Lynagh retaliated with an attack on the Stronge estate near Middletown. The unit killed the former unionist speaker at Stormont, Norman Stronge, and his son James, before burning their mansion down and shooting their way through a police cordon.
Among British security forces Lynagh became known as “The Executioner”. He was picked up and interrogated many times by the Gardaí in Monaghan but was never arrested. During this time he devised a Maoist military strategy adapted to Irish conditions aimed at escalating the war against British forces. The plan envisaged the destruction of police and army bases in parts of Northern Ireland in order to create liberated areas under IRA control. In 1984 he started cooperating with Pádraig McKearney who shared his views. The strategy began materializing with the destruction of two Royal Ulster Constabulary barracks in Ballygawley in December 1985, and in The Birches in August 1986.
Jim Lynagh was killed in an ambush by the SAS on the 8 May 1987 during an attack on Loughgall RUC barracks which also claimed the lives of seven of his comrades: Patrick Kelly, Declan Arthurs, Seamus Donnelly, Tony Gormley, Eugene Kelly, Pádraig McKearney, and Gerard O'Callaghan. He was buried in Monaghan town.
