The Troubles in Dungiven

The Troubles in Dungiven recounts incidents during, and the effects of the Troubles in Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

In total, seven people were killed in or near Dungiven during the Troubles. Four were British Army soldiers, two were Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), and one was a civilian. The civilian, Frances McCloskey, was apparently killed by the RUC, and all the other deaths were the responsability of republican paramilitary groups, with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) killing three soldiers and a RUC officer, and the Irish National Liberation Army killing one RUC officer and one soldier. Both RUC officers were Protestant; McCloskey was Catholic.

McCloskey, who died on 14 July 1969 aged 67, is sometimes considered to be the first fatality of the Troubles. He had been found unconscious on 13 July near the Dungiven Orange Hall following a police baton charge against a crowd who had been throwing stones at the hall. Witnesses later said they had seen police batoning a figure in the doorway where McCloskey was found, although police claimed that he had been unconscious before the baton charge and may have been hit with a stone. He was taken to hospital and died the following day. [David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Brian Feeney and Chris Thornton, "Lost Lives: The Stories of the Men, Women and Children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles", Edinburgh, 1999, p.32.]

The most fatal incident in the area occurred on 24 June 1972, when three British Army soldiers were killed by a IRA landmine while on patrol in Crabarkey near Dungiven.

References

* [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/sutton/chron/ NI Conflict Archive on the Internet]