The Northern Irish Troubles resulted in 14 deaths in or near the County Antrim

County Antrim

County Antrim is one of six counties that form Northern Ireland, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 2,844 km², with a population of approximately 616,000...

 town of Ballymoney

Ballymoney

Ballymoney is a small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 9,021 people in the 2001 Census. It is currently served by Ballymoney Borough Council....

. Seven people were killed by various loyalist

Ulster loyalism

Ulster loyalism is an ideology that is opposed to a united Ireland. It can mean either support for upholding Northern Ireland's status as a constituent part of the United Kingdom , support for Northern Ireland independence, or support for loyalist paramilitaries...

 groups, four by the Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 (IRA), and three by the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

. Two IRA members and one British soldier were killed in a gun battle between undercover soldiers and the IRA in Dunloy

Dunloy

Dunloy is a village and townland in the Borough of Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is between Ballymena and Ballymoney . It had a population of 1,071 people in the 2001 Census, a gain of 21 % since 1991.Dunloy's most striking building is the modern Roman Catholic church...

, near Ballymoney, in 1984. A former member of the IRA was also killed by the Ulster Freedom Fighters in 1992. Two of the other victims were members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary

Royal Ulster Constabulary

The Royal Ulster Constabulary was the name of the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2000. Following the awarding of the George Cross in 2000, it was subsequently known as the Royal Ulster Constabulary GC. It was founded on 1 June 1922 out of the Royal Irish Constabulary...

; one was killed by an IRA booby trap

Booby trap

A booby trap is a device designed to harm or surprise a person, unknowingly triggered by the presence or actions of the victim. As the word trap implies, they often have some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. However, in other cases the device is placed on busy roads or is...

 bomb in 1978, and the other was beaten to death by a non-specific loyalist group in 1997. Another victim was a prison officer killed by the IRA. The other seven victims were all civilians; five Catholics and two Protestants.

One incident to occur in Ballymoney during the Troubles was the murder of the Quinn brothers in July 1998. The three, aged 9, 10 and 11, were killed during an Ulster Volunteer Force petrol bomb attack on their home at Carnany Park, in a predominantly Protestant

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

 area of Ballymoney. The family had only moved into the house the previous week. The mother and her partner escaped, but couldn't save the three children. The incident followed a number of sectarian threats and attacks in the area at the height of the Drumcree

Drumcree Church

Drumcree Parish Church, officially The Church of the Ascension, is the parish church of Drumcree Church of Ireland parish. The church is within the townland of Drumcree, roughly 1.5 miles to the northeast of Portadown, County Armagh....

 protests in Portadown

Portadown

Portadown is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about 23 miles south-west of Belfast...

. There was widespread local and international condemnation of the attack. Strong condemnation came from Democratic Unionist Party

Democratic Unionist Party

The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

 leader, Ian Paisley

Ian Paisley

Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, PC is a politician and church minister in Northern Ireland. As the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party , he and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness were elected First Minister and deputy First Minister respectively on 8 May 2007.In addition to co-founding...

, about these killings in his constituency, but he told Independent Television News

Independent Television News

ITN is a news and content provider with headquarters in the United Kingdom. It is made up of four key businesses: ITN News, ITN Source, ITN Productions and ITN Consulting. The ITN logotype can be displayed in any of 4 different colours, each of which represents a business unit. This is the...

 that "the IRA

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

carried out far worse murders than we had at Ballymoney, over and over again". Just over a week later a Ballymoney man was charged with murder.

Sources

• McKittrick, D, Kelters, S, Feeney, B and Thornton, C. Lost Lives. Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh, 1999, pp. 1434 to 1436. ISBN 184018227X