Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks

Donnelly's Bar and Kay's Tavern attacks
Part of the Troubles
Site of the massacre; the band's minibus was parked in the lay-by behind the roadsign
Location	Silverbridge, County Armagh, NI Dundalk, County Louth, ROI
Coordinates	54°00′32″N 6°24′18″W / 54.009°N 6.4049°W / 54.009; -6.4049,
Date	19 December 1975 First attack 18:15 Second attack 21:00
Attack type	Bombing, shooting
Deaths	5 civilians
Injured	26
Perpetrators	UVF, RHC and UDR members as the Glenanne gang

Locations of attacks
Silverbridge Dundalk

During the evening of 19 December 1975, two coordinated attacks were carried out by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) in pubs either side of the Irish border. The first attack, a car bombing, took place outside Kay's Tavern, a pub along Crowe Street in Dundalk, County Louth, Republic of Ireland - close to the border. The second, a gun and bomb attack, took place at Donnelly's Bar & Filling Station in Silverbridge, County Armagh, just across the border inside Northern Ireland.^[1]

The attack has been linked to the Glenanne gang, a group of loyalist militants who were either members of the UVF, the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and the closely linked UVF paramilitary the Red Hand Commando (RHC). Some of the Glenanne gang were members of two of these organisations at the same time, such as gang leaders Billy Hanna, who was in both the UVF and the UDR and who fought for the British Army during the Korean War, and John Weir from County Monaghan, who was in the UVF and was a sergeant in the RUC.^[2] At least 25 UDR men and police officers were named as members of the gang.^[3] The Red Hand Commando claimed to have carried out both attacks.^[4][5]