Editing Official Irish Republican Army (section)

==Paramilitary campaign==

While the OIRA occasionally fought the British Army and the RUC throughout 1970 (as well as the Provisional IRA during a 1970 feud), they did not have a strong paramilitary presence until early 1971. In August 1971, after the introduction of [[Operation Demetrius|internment without trial]], OIRA units fought numerous gun battles with British troops who were deployed to arrest suspected republicans.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} The Official IRA company in the Markets area of Belfast, led by [[Joe McCann]], held off an incursion into the area by over 600 British troops.<ref>Jack Holland, Henry McDonald, Deadly Divisions, p10</ref> In December 1971, the Official IRA killed [[Ulster Unionist Party]] (UUP) Senator [[John Barnhill (politician)|John Barnhill]] at his home in [[Strabane]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071201172320/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,905596,00.html Acceptable Violence?], ''[[Time Magazine]]'', 27 December 1971</ref> This was the first murder of a politician in [[Northern Ireland]] or the [[Republic of Ireland]] since the assassination of [[Irish Free State|Free State]] Minister for Justice [[Kevin O'Higgins]] in 1927. In February 1972, the organisation also made an attempt on the life of UUP politician [[John Taylor, Baron Kilclooney|John Taylor]].<ref>{{cite news |title=John Taylor: Profile |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=30 January 2001 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1144830.stm |access-date=15 June 2015 |archive-date=10 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410123124/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/1144830.stm |url-status=live }}</ref>

On [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]] (30 January 1972), an OIRA man in [[Derry]] is believed by the [[Saville Inquiry]] to have fired a shot with a revolver at British troops, after they had shot dead 13 civil rights demonstrators {{ndash}} the only republican shots fired on the day and contrary to his orders.<ref>"Report of The Bloody Sunday Inquiry – Volume I – Chapter 3". Saville Bloody Sunday Inquiry. 15 June 2010.</ref> The anger caused by Bloody Sunday among Irish people was such that the Official IRA announced that it would launch an "offensive" against British forces.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}}

However, the OIRA declared a [[ceasefire]] later in the same year.<ref name="bbc2973759">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm|title=30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire|work=On this day| date=30 May 1972 |publisher=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=13 June 2013|archive-date=2 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102225127/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> The ceasefire, on 30 May,<ref name="bbc2973759"/> followed a number of armed actions which had been politically damaging. The organisation [[1972 Aldershot Bombing|bombed]] the [[Aldershot]] headquarters of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] (the main perpetrators of Bloody Sunday), but killed only six civilians and a Roman Catholic army chaplain.{{citation needed|date=January 2013}} After the killing of William Best, a Catholic British soldier home on leave in Derry, the OIRA declared a ceasefire. In addition, the death of several militant OIRA figures such as Joe McCann in confrontations with British soldiers, enabled the Goulding leadership to call off their armed campaign, which it had never supported wholeheartedly.