Battle at Springmartin The Battle at Springmartin was a series of gun battles in Belfast , Northern Ireland on 13 – 14 May 1972 . It involved the British Army , the Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) , and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force ( UVF ) . The violence began when a car bomb , planted by Protestant loyalists , exploded outside a crowded public house in the mainly Irish nationalist and Catholic district of Ballymurphy . UVF snipers then opened fire on the survivors from an abandoned high - rise flat . This began the worst fighting in Northern Ireland since the suspension of Stormont and the imposition of Direct Rule from London . For the rest of the night and throughout the next day , local IRA units fought gun battles with both the UVF and British Army . Most of the fighting took place along the interface between the Catholic Ballymurphy and Protestant Springmartin housing estates , and the British Army base that sat between them . Seven people were killed in the violence : five civilians ( four Catholics , one Protestant ) , a British soldier and a member of the IRA youth wing . Four of the dead were teenagers . Bombing of Kelly ' s Bar . Shortly after 5 : 00 on Saturday 13 May 1972 , a car bomb exploded without warning outside Kelly ' s Bar , at the junction of the Springfield Road and Whiterock Road . The pub was in a mainly Irish Catholic and nationalist area and most of its customers were from that community . At the time of the blast , the pub was crowded with men watching the football match between England and West Germany on colour television . Sixty - three people were injured , eight of them seriously . Catholic civilian John Moran ( 19 ) , who had been working at Kelly ' s as a part - time barman , died of his injuries on 23 May . At first , the British Army claimed that the blast had been an " accident " caused by a Provisional IRA bomb . The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland , William Whitelaw , told the House of Commons on 18 May that the blast was caused by a Provisional IRA bomb that exploded prematurely . However , locals suspected that the loyalist Ulster Defence Association ( UDA ) had planted the bomb . Republican sources said that IRA volunteers would not have risked storing such a large amount of explosives in such a crowded pub . It later emerged that the bomb had indeed been planted by loyalists . A memorial plaque on the site of the former pub names three members of staff who lost their lives as a result of the bomb and the gun battles that followed . It reads : " . . . here on 13th May 1972 a no warning Loyalist car bomb exploded . As a result , 66 people were injured and three innocent members of staff of Kelly ' s Bar lost their lives . They were : Tommy McIlroy ( died 13th May 1972 ) , John Moran ( died from his injuries 23rd May 1972 ) , Gerard Clarke ( died from his injuries 6th September 1989 ) . " The gun battles . Saturday 13 May . The night before the bombing , gunmen from the UVF ' s West Belfast Brigade had taken up position along the second floor of an abandoned row of maisonette s ( or flats ) at the edge of the Protestant Springmartin estate . These flats overlooked the Catholic Ballymurphy estate . Rifles , mostly Second World War stock , were ferried to the area from hide - outs in the Shankill . Not long after the explosion , the UVF unit opened - fire on those gathered outside the wrecked pub , including those who had been caught in the blast . A British Army spokesman said that the shooting began at about 5 : 35 , when 30 high - velocity shots were heard . Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of Parliament Gerry Fitt said that shots had been fired from the Protestant Springmartin estate only minutes after the bombing . William Whitelaw , however , claimed that the shooting did not begin until 40 minutes after the blast . Ambulances braved the gunfire to reach the wounded , which included a number of children . Tommy McIlroy ( 50 ) , a Catholic civilian who worked at Kelly ' s Bar , was shot in the chest and killed outright . He was the first to be killed in the violence . Members of both the Provisional and Official wings of the IRA " joined forces to return the fire " , using Thompson submachine guns , M1 carbine s and a Bren light machine gun . When British troops arrived on the scene , they too were fired upon by IRA units . Corporal Alan Buckley ( 22 ) of the King ' s Own Scottish Borderers was fatally shot by the Provisionals as he sat in the turret of a Ferret armoured car on Whiterock Road . A platoon of soldiers then gave covering fire while a medical officer tried to help him . Another soldier was also wounded in the gunfight . Following this , 300 members of the Parachute Regiment were sent to back - up the King ' s Own Scottish Borderers . Over the next few hours there were 35 separate shooting incidents reported , making it the most violent night since the suspension of the Northern Ireland government and imposition of Direct Rule from London earlier that year . The IRA exchanged fire with both the British Army and with the UVF snipers on the Springmartin flats . Most of the IRA ' s fire was aimed at the Henry Taggart Army base — near the Springmartin flats — which was hit by over 400 rounds in the first 14 hours of the battle . Although most of the gunfire came from the nationalist Ballymurphy estate , British soldiers also reported shots being fired from the nearby mountain slopes . According to a journalist colleague of Malachi O ' Doherty the British Army also fired into Belfast City Cemetery between the Whiterock and Springfield roads . Two more people were killed that night . The first was 15 - year - old Michael Magee , a member of Fianna Éireann ( the IRA youth wing ) , who was found shot in the chest at New Barnsley Crescent , near his home . He died shortly after he was brought to the Royal Victoria Hospital . Two men who took him there claimed they were beaten by British soldiers who had just heard of Corporal Buckley ' s death . A death notice said that Magee was killed by the British Army but the republican publication Belfast Graves later said he was accidentally shot . The other was Catholic civilian Robert McMullan ( 32 ) , who was shot at New Barnsley Park , also near his home . Witnesses said there was heavy gunfire in the area at ~ 8 , then " a single shot rang out and Robert McMullan fell to the ground " . It is thought that he was shot by soldiers firing from Henry Taggart base . On the first night of the battle , the Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) arrested two young UVF members , Trevor King and William Graham . They were found at a house in Blackmountain Pass trying to fix a rifle that had jammed . During a search of the house , the RUC found three Steyr rifles , ammunition and illuminating flares . Sunday 14 May . The fighting between the IRA , UVF and British Army resumed the following day . According to the book " UVF " ( 1997 ) , British soldiers were moved into the ground floor of the abandoned flats while the UVF snipers continued firing from the flats above them . The soldiers and UVF were both firing into Ballymurphy , " initially unaware of each other " . However , according to a UVF gunman involved in the battle , there was collusion between the UVF and British soldiers . He said that a British foot patrol caught a UVF unit hiding guns in a bin but ignored their cache with a wink when the UVF member said the guns were " rubbish " . The IRA unit in Ballymurphy was returning fire at an equal rate and some 400 strike marks were later counted on the flats . In the Springmartin estate , gunfire killed Protestant teenager John Pedlow ( 17 ) and wounded his friend . According to the book " Lost Lives " , they had been shot by soldiers . His friend said that they had been walking home from a shop when there was a burst of gunfire , which " came from near the Taggart Memorial Army post and seemed to be directed towards Black Mountain Parade " . However , Malcolm Sutton ' s " Index of Deaths from the Conflict in Ireland " states that he was killed by the IRA . An inquest into Pedlow ' s death found that he had been hit by a . 303 bullet , which was likely a ricochet . Pedlow was given a loyalist funeral , but police said there was nothing to link him with any " illegal organisation or acts " . UVF snipers continued to fire from the high - rise flats on the hill at Springmartin Road . About three hours after the shooting of Pedlow , a bullet caught 13 - year - old Catholic girl Martha Campbell as she walked along Springhill Avenue , killing her . She was among a group of young girls and a witness said the firing must have been directed at himself and the girls , as nobody else was in the area at the time . Reliable loyalist sources say that the schoolgirl was shot by the UVF . According to Jim Cusack and Henry McDonald , Jim Hanna — who later became UVF Chief of Staff — was one of the gunmen operating from Springmartin during the battle . Jim Hanna told journalist Kevin Myers that , during the clashes , a British Army patrol helped Hanna and two other UVF members get into Corry ' s Timber Yard , which overlooked the Catholic Ballymurphy estate . Allegedly , the soldiers were present when one of the UVF members shot and killed a Catholic . When a British Army Major heard of the incident he ordered his men to withdraw , but they did not arrest the UVF members , who were allowed to hold their position . Shortly afterwards , the loyalist UDA used roadblocks and barricades to seal - off the Woodvale area into a " no - go " zone , controlled by the UDA ' s B Company , which was then commanded by former British soldier Davy Fogel .