1971 Scottish soldiers' killings
| 1971 Scottish soldiers' killings | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Troubles | |
Squire's Hill, north Belfast, the area of the three British soldiers killings | |
| Location | 54°38′6.46″N 5°59′35.9″W / 54.6351278°N 5.993306°W White Brae, North Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Date | 10 March 1971 |
| Target | British Army personnel |
Attack type | Shooting |
| Deaths | 3 |
| Perpetrators | Provisional IRA |
The 1971 Scottish soldiers killings took place in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. On 10 March 1971, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) shot dead three off-duty British soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Royal Highland Fusiliers. The soldiers were from Scotland and two were teenage brothers. They were lured from a pub in Belfast where they had been drinking, driven to a remote location and shot by the roadside. Three British soldiers had been killed before this, but all had been killed during rioting.
The deaths led to public mourning and protests. Pressure to act spurred a political crisis for the Northern Ireland Government, which led to the resignation of James Chichester-Clark as Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. The British Army raised the minimum age needed to serve in Northern Ireland to 18 in response to this incident. In 2010, a memorial was dedicated to the three soldiers near the site of their deaths.
Three IRA volunteers were later named as being responsible, one of whom was a former British soldier.