Editing Gibraltar Three (section)

===Operation Flavius===
From late 1987, British authorities in the Gibraltar territory had suspected that the IRA were planning to attack the changing of the Governor of Gibraltar's guard by bombing the car park where the ceremony took place. A known IRA member had been observed watching the ceremony several times, and three high-ranking IRA operatives - Seán Savage, Daniel McCann and Mairéad Farrell - had been detected travelling to Spain under false identities. In response, British and Gibraltarian authorities launched Operation Flavius, a military surveillance operation to observe and apprehend the three before they could launch their attack. 

In late February 1988, Savage, McCann and Farrell travelled to the Spanish city of Málaga (90 miles from Gibraltar) and each rented three cars. By early March, authorities were convinced the attack was imminent and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally approved the deployment of an SAS team to Gibraltar to assist the Gibraltar territorial police in arresting the suspects. 

On 6 March 1988, Seán Savage entered Gibraltar in a white Renault Five, tailed by an MI5 agent. McCann and Farrell also crossed the border a few hours later and met up with Savage in the car park where the ceremony was to take place, where the three left the car. A bomb-disposal expert examined the car and declared it a suspected car bomb, at which point the SAS team were sent to arrest the suspects. Two moved up behind McCann and Farrell, while two more shadowed Savage, who had split off from the other two. However, as the team were about to arrest McCann and Farrell, a Gibraltarian police officer who was unaware of Operation Flavius switched on his vehicle's siren in an attempt to bypass heavy traffic, causing McCann and Farrell to turn round and see the SAS officers. At this point, they allegedly both reached into their clothing and the soldiers, believing them to be carrying guns or remote detonators, shot them. Hearing the shooting, Savage turned round, saw the two soldiers following him and reached into his jacket, at which point he too was gunned down. All three IRA members were killed. No bombs were found in Savage's car, but a key found on Farrell's body led authorities to her hired car, which contained explosives, remote detonators and timers set for the time of the changing of the guard, confirming that they had indeed been planning to bomb the ceremony; they had likely been staking out the area when they were killed.