One question not answered by the HET covers the intelligence background which led to
the SAS ambush at Loughgall.
After the attack the IRA was wracked by theories that an informer was involved.
In 1999 Ian Hurst, then a military intelligence whistle-blower, and one of his
colleagues, gave me an account which is convincing in its detail.
They said the IRA operation was not betrayed by an informer but was instead
compromised by a listening device planted in the home of Gerard Harte, the IRA's
mid-Tyrone commander.
It was monitored by the Det, an elite military surveillance unit tasked by RUC
Special Branch.
As a result of the device, a surveillance operation was mounted against Jim Lynagh,
the IRA's Monaghan-based head of cross-border operations who was attempting to
create "a liberated zone" along the Clogher Valley.
Lynagh died in the Loughgall attack.
In his book Big Boys' Rules, Mark Urban reports being told of surveillance on Lynagh.
He was also told by a "reliable" but unconfirmed military source that another UDR
soldier was allowed to be killed in order not to jeopardise the intelligence
operation which was aimed at smashing the east Tyrone IRA.
The victim was William Graham, shot dead in his farmyard near Pomeroy.
The weapon used to kill him was recovered at Loughgall a few days later. Guns
recovered in the attack were used in at least seven murders.
RUC Chief Superintendent Harry Breen made this point as he displayed the weapons
following Loughgall.
He was shot dead on March 20, 1989 along with Superintendent Bob Buchanan as they
travelled back to Northern Ireland from Dundalk Garda station.
Their deaths are the focus of the ongoing Smithwick Tribunal in Dublin into alleged
Garda collusion with the IRA.
