Attack on Derryard checkpoint The attack on Derryard checkpoint was a raid carried out on 13 December 1989 by a Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) unit against a British Army permanent vehicle checkpoint complex manned by the King ' s Own Scottish Borderers ( KOSB ) . It happened near the Northern Ireland – Republic of Ireland border at Derryard , near Rosslea , County Fermanagh . The IRA unit , firing from the back of an armoured truck , attacked the base with heavy machine - guns , grenades , rockets and a flamethrower . A nearby British Army patrol arrived at the scene and a fierce firefight erupted . The IRA withdrew after leaving a van bomb inside the complex , but it failed to detonate . The action left two British soldiers dead and two wounded . Planning . According to journalist Ed Moloney , the IRA Army Council , suspecting a great deal of penetration by informers at the grassroots level of the organisation , decided to form an experimental flying column ( instead of the usual active service unit ) to mount a large - scale operation against a permanent vehicle checkpoint along the border . The goal was to find an effective way to prevent any information leak that could result in another fiasco like the Loughgall Ambush in 1987 . Moloney maintains that the planning was in the charge of Thomas Murphy , alleged leader of the South Armagh Brigade , and that the raid was to be led by East Tyrone Brigade member Michael " Pete " Ryan . Journalist Ian Bruce , instead claims that an Irish citizen who served in the Parachute Regiment was the leader of the IRA unit , citing intelligence sources . The column was made up of volunteers from throughout Northern Ireland . It would be composed of about 20 IRA members , but the attack itself was to be the responsibility of 11 IRA members . The attack . The IRA team was armed with AK - 47 s and Armalite AR - 18 , two 12 . 7mm DShK heavy machine - guns , RPG - 7 s , different kinds of grenade s , and a flamethrower . The bulk of the flying column would be driven to the checkpoint on a makeshift armoured truck . To assure widespread destruction , the column would detonate a van bomb after the initial assault . According to the RUC report , a third vehicle might have been involved . The chosen target , a permanent vehicle checkpoint at Derryard , was manned by eight soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the King ' s Own Scottish Borderers regiment and a member of the RUC . The truck was driven from the border and halted at the checkpoint . As Private James Houston began to check the back of the truck , the IRA opened - fire with assault rifles and threw grenades into the compound . Two RPG - 7s were fired at the observation sangar while the flamethrower was aimed at the command sangar . A farmer some distance away saw the orange ball of flames and heard gunfire ' raking the fields ' . Heavy shooting continued as the truck reversed and smashed into the compound . The IRA sprayed it with gunfire from inside and threw grenades , nail bombs and petrol bombs . The defenders were forced to seek shelter in sangars , from where they fired into their own base . As the truck drove out of the now wrecked compound , a red transit van loaded with a 400 lb ( 182 kg ) bomb was driven inside . However , it failed to detonate . The attack was finally repulsed by a Borderers section from the checkpoint that was patrolling nearby , with the support of a Wessex helicopter . The patrol fired more than 100 rounds . The IRA column , at risk of being surrounded , then fled toward the border in the truck . It was found abandoned at the border with a bomb on board . Two British soldiers were killed in the attack : Private Houston and Lance - Corporal Michael Patterson . Corporal Law was badly wounded by shrapnel and later airlifted for treatment . Another soldier suffered minor injuries . Aftermath . There was outrage in Parliamentary and unionist circles , as a supposedly well - defended border post had been overrun by the IRA and two soldiers killed . On the other hand , according to Moloney , there was also some disappointment among republicans . Despite the positive propaganda effect , the quick and strong reaction from British troops convinced some high - ranking members that the Army Council was infiltrated by a mole . A senior British military officer , when quizzed about the IRA attack , said : They are murdering bastards , but they are not cowards . This team actually pressed home a ground attack right into the heart of the compound . That takes guts when there are people firing back . KOSB officers and security sources believed that the IRA unit involved was not locally recruited , putting the blame instead on IRA members from Clogher ( County Tyrone ) and South Monaghan ( in the Republic ) . The same sources said that the plan of the attack was executed " in true backside - or - bust Para style " . From 1990 up to the end of the IRA campaign in 1997 , there were a number of further bloodless , small - scale attacks against permanent vehicles checkpoints along this part of the border using automatic weapons , particularly in County Fermanagh and against a military outpost at Aughnacloy , County Tyrone . Two British soldiers , Corporal Robert Duncan and Lance Corporal Ian Harvey , were bestowed the Distinguished Conduct Medal ( DCM ) , whilst Lance - Corporal Patterson received a posthumous mention in dispatches for his actions during the attack . The checkpoint was dismantled in 1991 .