The Provisional IRA killed more than 1,700 people during a 25-year campaign

Fifty years ago, the sparks of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland ignited the Troubles and the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was born.

A fierce, new assault against British rule began, inflamed by the arrests of hundreds of Catholics in a state policy of internment without trial and then, in 1972, by Bloody Sunday.

The organisation killed more than 1,700 people during a 25-year campaign that followed, before calling a ceasefire.

"All sides inflicted pain and suffering," said veteran republican and former PIRA prisoner Sean Murray.

"I never ever want to see that inflicted upon any other generation."

Watch more: Explore BBC archive film footage showing what led to the deployment of British troops in August 1969.