Military Reaction Force
The Military Reaction Force, Military Reconnaissance Force or Mobile Reconnaissance Force was a covert intelligence-gathering and counterinsurgency unit of the British Army active in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The unit was formed during the summer of 1971 and operated until late 1972 or early 1973. MRF teams operated in plain clothes and civilian vehicles, equipped with pistols and submachine guns. They were tasked with tracking and arresting or killing members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. It is alleged that the MRF killed a number of Catholic civilians in drive-by shootings.
The MRF also handled informers within the paramilitary groups and ran several front companies to gather intelligence. In October 1972, the IRA uncovered and attacked two of the MRF's front companies—a mobile laundry service and a massage parlour—which contributed to the unit's dissolution. The MRF was succeeded by the Special Reconnaissance Unit and, later, by the Force Research Unit.
Origins and structure
The MRF was established in the summer of 1971. It appears to have its origins in ideas and techniques developed by Brigadier Sir Frank Kitson, a senior commander in the British Army, who had created "counter gangs" to defeat the Kenya Land and Freedom Army in the Colony and Protectorate of Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion. He was the author of two books on counter-insurgency tactics: Gangs & Counter Gangs and Low Intensity Operations. From 1970 to 1972, Kitson served in Northern Ireland as commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade. It has been claimed that he was responsible for establishing the MRF and that the unit was attached to his brigade.The MRF was based at Palace Barracks in the Belfast suburb of Holywood. The MRF's first commander was Captain Arthur Watchus. In June 1972, he was succeeded as commander by Captain James 'Hamish' McGregor. The unit consisted of up to 40 men, handpicked from throughout the British Army. A Ministry of Defence review concluded the MRF had "no provision for detailed command and control".
''Modus operandi''
In March 1994, the UK's Junior Defence Minister Jeremy Hanley issued the following description of the MRF in reply to a parliamentary written question: "The MRF was a small military unit which, during the period 1971 to 1973, was responsible for carrying out surveillance tasks in Northern Ireland in those circumstances where soldiers in uniform and with Army vehicles would be too easily recognized".Martin Dillon described the MRF's purpose as being "to draw the Provisional IRA into a shooting war with loyalists in order to distract the IRA from its objective of attacking the Army".
Many details about the unit's modus operandi have been revealed by former members. One issued a statement to the Troops Out Movement in July 1978. In 2012–13, a former MRF member using the covername 'Simon Cursey' gave a number of interviews and published the book MRF Shadow Troop about his time in the unit. In November 2013, a BBC Panorama documentary was aired about the MRF. It drew on information from seven former members, as well as a number of other sources. The Panorama documentary identified 10 unarmed civilians who were shot by the MRF.
The MRF had both a "defensive" surveillance role and an "offensive" role. MRF operatives patrolled the streets in these cars in teams of two to four, tracking down and arresting or killing suspected IRA members. They were armed with Browning pistols and Sterling sub-machine guns. Former MRF members admitted that the unit shot unarmed people without warning, both IRA members and civilians. Former MRF members claim they had a list of targets they were ordered to "shoot on sight". One member interviewed for the BBC's Panorama, Soldier F, said "We were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a terror group". Soldier H said "We operated initially with them thinking that we were the UVF", to which Soldier F added: "We wanted to cause confusion". Another said that their role was "to draw out the IRA and to minimise their activities". They said they fired on groups of people manning defensive barricades, on the assumption that some might be armed. The MRF member who made a statement in 1978 opined that the unit's role was one of "repression through fear, terror and violence". He said that the unit had been trained to use weapons favoured by the IRA.
Republicans argued that the MRF deliberately attacked civilians for two main reasons: firstly, to draw the IRA into a sectarian conflict with loyalists and divert it from its campaign against the state; and secondly, to show Catholics that the IRA could not protect them, thus draining its support.
The MRF's surveillance operations included the use of front companies and disguises. Former members claim they posed as road sweepers, dustmen and even homeless meths-drinkers while carrying out surveillance. The MRF is known to have used agents referred to as 'Freds'. These were republican or loyalist paramilitaries who were recruited by the Intelligence Corps. The Freds would work inside paramilitary groups, feeding back information to the MRF. They were also ferried through Belfast in armoured cars, and through the gunslit would point-out paramilitary individuals of note. Through this method the MRF compiled extensive photographs and dossiers of Belfast militants of both factions.
Alleged attacks on civilians
In 1972, it is alleged MRF teams carried out a number of drive-by shootings in Catholic and Irish nationalist areas of Belfast, some of which were attributed to Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. MRF members have asserted the unit's involvement in most of these attacks. There are also allegations that the unit helped loyalists to carry out attacks.McGurk's Bar bombing
On 4 December 1971, the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force detonated a time bomb at the door of McGurk's public house, located on the corner of North Queen Street and Great George's Street in Belfast. The pub was frequented by Irish Catholics/nationalists. The explosion caused the building to collapse, killing fifteen Catholic civilians and wounding seventeen more. It was the deadliest attack in Belfast during the Troubles. The book Killing For Britain, written by former UVF member 'John Black', claims that the MRF organised the bombing and helped the bombers get in and out of the area. Two days before the bombing, republican prisoners had escaped from nearby Crumlin Road Prison. Security was tightened, and there were many checkpoints in the area at the time. However, locals claimed that the security forces helped the bombers by removing the checkpoints an hour before the attack. One of the bombers—Robert Campbell—said that their original target had been The Gem, a nearby pub that was allegedly linked to the Official IRA. It is claimed the MRF plan was to help the UVF bomb The Gem, and then blame the bombing on the Provisional IRA. This would start a feud between the two IRA factions, diverting them from their fight against the security forces and draining their support. Campbell said that The Gem had security outside and, after waiting for almost an hour, they decided to bomb the nearest 'Catholic pub' instead. Immediately afterward, the security forces claimed that a bomb had accidentally exploded while being handled by IRA members inside McGurk's.Whiterock Road shooting
On 15 April 1972, brothers Gerry and John Conway—both Catholic civilians—were walking along Whiterock Road to catch a bus. As they passed St Thomas's School, a car stopped, and three men leapt out and began shooting at them with pistols. The brothers ran, but both were shot and wounded. Witnesses said one of the gunmen returned to the car and spoke into a handset radio. Shortly afterward two armoured personnel carriers arrived, and there was a conversation between the uniformed and the plainclothes soldiers. The three vehicles then left, and the brothers were taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital. The British Army told journalists that an army patrol had encountered two wanted men, that one had fired at the patrol, and that the patrol returned fire. In a 1978 interview, a former MRF member claimed he had been one of the gunmen. He confirmed that the brothers were unarmed but claimed his patrol had mistaken the brothers for two IRA men whom the MRF were ordered to "shoot on sight".Andersonstown shootings
On 12 May 1972, the British government announced there would be no disciplinary action against the soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday. That night, MRF personnel shot seven Catholic civilians in the Andersonstown area.An MRF team in an unmarked car approached a checkpoint manned by members of the Catholic Ex-Servicemen's Association at the entrance to Riverdale Park South. The CESA was an unarmed vigilante organization set up by former members of the British Army to protect Catholic areas. The car stopped, and then reversed. One of the MRF men opened fire from the car with a sub-machine gun, killing Catholic civilian Patrick McVeigh and wounding four others. The car continued on, turned, and then drove past the scene of the shooting. All of the men were local residents and McVeigh, who was shot through the back, had stopped to chat to the CESA members as he walked home. He was a married father of six children. The British Army told journalists that gunmen in a passing car had fired indiscriminately at civilians and called it an "apparently motiveless crime". The car had come from a Protestant area and had returned the same way. This, together with the spokesman's statement, implied that loyalists were responsible.
An inquest into the attack was held in December 1972, where it was admitted that the car's occupants were soldiers belonging to an undercover unit known as the MRF. The soldiers did not appear at the inquest but issued statements to it, claiming they had been shot at by six gunmen and were returning fire. However, eyewitnesses said none of the CESA members were armed, and this was supported by forensic evidence. The MRF members involved were never prosecuted. There is no evidence that any of their targets were in the IRA. An MRF member stated in 1978 that their intention was to make it look like a loyalist attack, thus provoking sectarian conflict and "taking the heat off the Army".
Minutes before the shooting at the checkpoint, two other Catholic civilians had been shot nearby by another MRF team. The two young men—Aidan McAloon and Eugene Devlin—had taken a taxi home from a disco and were dropped off at Slievegallion Drive. As they began walking along the street, in the direction of a vigilante barricade, the MRF team opened fire on them from an unmarked car. The MRF team told the Royal Military Police that they had shot a man who was firing a rifle. Witnesses said there was no gunman on the street, and police forensics experts found no evidence that McAloon or Devlin had fired weapons.
Two weeks later, on 27 May, Catholic civilian Gerard Duddy was killed in a drive-by shooting at the same spot where Patrick McVeigh was killed. His death was blamed on loyalists.