Editing Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde

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'''Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde '''(29 August 1957 - 2 December 1984) was an [[IRA]] volunteer. 

== IRA activities ==
Mac Giolla Bhrighde joined the IRA in the 1970s after being dishonourably discharged from the Irish army for desertion. In 1979 he was arrested with a rifle and imprisoned for three years for illegal possession of a firearm.

He was noted for his hard line militarism in the early 1980s, and supported a strategy of forming full-time IRA guerrilla units or flying columns based in the Republic, which would carry out four or five large-scale attacks across the border into Northern Ireland a year, retreating back across the border into the Republic of Ireland after each attack, to deny British Forces the chance for fully engaging them. This strategy was supported by the Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade led by [[Padraig McKearney]] and [[Jim Lynagh]], who wanted an escalation of the conflict to what they termed total war. They were opposed by [[Kevin McKenna]], the IRA Chief of Staff, and by the republican leadership based around [[Gerry Adams]], on the grounds that actions of that scale were too big a risk and unsustainable. 

== Death ==
On 2 December 1984, Mac Giolla Bhrighde and [[Kieran Fleming]] stole a Toyota van in County Donegal and loaded it with explosives before driving over the border to Northern Ireland, where they drove to Kesh, County Fermanagh. Just outside the Drumrush Lodge Restaurant, Mac Giolla Bhrighde and Fleming planted the explosives in a lane leading to the restaurant, and wired them up to a detonator at an observation point. They then made a hoax call to the Royal Ulster Constabulary telling them that there was an IRA terror attack in progress at the restaurant. A few minutes later, Mac Giolla Bhrighde saw a responding police vehicle arrive, and gave the order to Fleming to detonate the explosives. However, they failed to go off, and Mac Giolla Bhrighde got out off the stolen van and ran towards a nearby parked car which he believed contained civilians in order to warn them to leave. 

According to military records, when Bhrigde approached the car, several SAS soldiers got out and ordered him to drop his weapon. In the ensuing shootout, Sergeant Alastair Slater was shot and killed by Bhrigde, who was himself killed by the SAS moments later. According to republican sources, Bhrigde was not armed and had been shot in the left side while attempting to surrender before being handcuffed and then shot again, killing him. However, this version of events is not borne out by evidence, as Alastair Slater was confirmed to have been killed responding to the incident, which could not have happened if Bhrigde wasn't armed. After Bhrigde was killed, Fleming attempted to run away, but fell into the Bannagh River and was swept away and drowned.
[[Category:List]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:Terrorists]]
[[Category:Murderer]]
[[Category:Grey Zone]]
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:Fallen Heroes]]
[[Category:Imprisoned]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Modern Villains]]
[[Category:Extremists]]