Qualla: 1989 Jonesborough Ambush https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: 1989 Jonesborough Ambush https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: Introduction https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. Bob Buchanan's red Vauxhall Cavalier crested the hill on the Edenappa Road just after 3 pm on a cold March afternoon in 1989. A man in army fatigues stood in the middle of the road, waving him down. To Buchanan and his passenger Harry Breen, the figure looked like a British soldier at a checkpoint - one of dozens they had passed through over careers spent policing South Armagh. They slowed. They stopped. A stolen cream-coloured van that had been following them overtook and pulled into a laneway opposite. Four masked men jumped out with rifles and opened fire on the driver's side. The two policemen who died on that road were the highest-ranking RUC officers ever killed during the Troubles.

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Image: Jan Hrdonka | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: The Men in the Car https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. Chief Superintendent Harry Breen was 51. He had joined the RUC in 1957 as a young sergeant, served in Lurgan, Newry, and Banbridge, and risen to command H Division, which covered some of the most contested ground in Northern Ireland. Colleagues remembered him as a gentleman of th...

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Image: Jan Hrdonka | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-the-men-in-the-car.mp3 0:06 2 full 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: An Unscheduled Meeting https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. The meeting in Dundalk that afternoon had been arranged at short notice. Buchanan had phoned that morning. The agenda was Operation Amazing, a co-ordinated cross-border effort against suspected IRA smuggling on the Armagh-Louth border. At 2:10 pm Breen and Buchanan sat down in th...

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Image: Jan Hrdonka | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-an-unscheduled-meeting.mp3 0:06 3 full 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: The Ambush https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. Buchanan, slowing for what looked like a British Army checkpoint, was trapped before he understood what was happening. The masked men fired through the driver's window with two Armalite rifles, a Ruger Mini-14, and a 7.62 Short. Buchanan tried twice to reverse; both times the car...

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Image: Jan Hrdonka | Public domain

]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-the-ambush.mp3 0:06 4 full 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: Snow, Silence, and Two Widows https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. An emergency call reached Forkhill RUC station at 3:45 pm. Officers arrived nine minutes later to find Breen on the verge with his pen, his glasses, and the white handkerchief beside him. Buchanan was still belted into the driver's seat. A heavy snowstorm rolled in that afternoon...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-snow-silence-and-two-widows.mp3 0:06 5 full 1989 Jonesborough Ambush: The Long Inquiry https://qualla.com/1989-jonesborough-ambush/ Photo credit Jan Hrdonka, Public domain. No one has ever been charged with the killings. In 2003 the Cory Collusion Inquiry recommended a public tribunal. The resulting Smithwick Tribunal sat in Dublin from 2011 to 2013, hearing testimony from retired officers, former IRA members, soldiers, and journalists. Judge Peter ...

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]]> Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/e/7/1989-jonesborough-ambush-wp/gce7-1989-jonesborough-ambush-the-long-inquiry.mp3 0:06 6 full