Kesh ambush
On 2 December 1984, a four-man Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) active service unit was ambushed by a British Army Special Air Service team while attempting to bomb a Royal Ulster Constabulary patrol who they had lured to Drumrush Lodge Restaurant. Two IRA volunteers and one SAS soldier were killed during the action. Background Prior to the ambush, the IRA had started to intensify their campaign against the British state. Two months earlier, in October 1984, the IRA carried out a bomb attack on the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, which was being used as the base for the Conservative Party's annual conference. Five people were killed in the attack and several were badly injured. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher narrowly escaped injury, and the bombing had been an attempt on her life. After the attack, the IRA released a statement saying "Today, we were unlucky, but remember, we only have to be lucky once - you will have to be lucky always." Kieran Fleming was one of 38 IRA prisoners who escaped from the Maze Prison in September 1983. Ambush On Sunday morning, 2 December 1984, two IRA volunteers, Kieran Fleming and Antoine Mac Giolla Bhrighde, stole a Toyota van