Military Reaction Force: Breakthrough in PSNI investigation

The detective leading an investigation into allegations that undercover soldiers shot unarmed civilians in Belfast in the 1970s has said there has been a potential breakthrough.

Police are investigating the activities of the Military Reaction Force (MRF), an undercover Army unit.

They are looking at 18 shooting incidents, two of them fatal.

Det Ch Insp Peter Montgomery said a witness had given the investigation team significant new information.

As a result, he said, there is a new line of inquiry.

Earlier, detectives appealed for information about 18 shooting incidents that took place in Belfast between April and September 1972.

Two years ago, the BBC's Panorama programme broadcast claims by former MRF soldiers that their unit had killed unarmed people while hunting "the IRA".

They claimed MRF actions "saved lives".

However, seven months after their interviews were broadcast, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had begun an investigation into the allegations.

The inquiry is being carried by detectives from the PSNI's Legacy Investigation Branch, a special police unit that investigates historical cases, many of them killings that took place during the Troubles.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland's Legacy Investigation Branch is investigating the activities of the undercover Army unit that was disbanded in 1973

The incidents under investigation are:

• The fatal shooting of 44-year-old Patrick McVeigh and shootings of four other men in Riverdale Park, west Belfast, on 12 May, 1972

• The fatal shooting of 18-year-old Daniel Rooney and shooting of a 18-year-old man in St James Crescent, west Belfast, on 26 September, 1972

• The shooting of two brothers, aged 19 and 30, in Whiterock Road, west Belfast, on 15 April, 1972

• The shooting of an 18-year-old man in Glen Road, west Belfast, on 6 May, 1972

• The shooting of a 15-year-old boy outside a school disco on Glen Road, west Belfast, on 7 May, 1972

• The shooting of an 18-year-old man in the Slievegallion area of west Belfast on 12 May, 1972

• The shooting at a 34-year-old man in Silvio Street, north Belfast, on 26 May, 1972

• The shooting of four men in Glen Road, west Belfast, on 22 June, 1972

• An incident during which a white Austin Morris vehicle was shot at in Kashmir Road, west Belfast, on 9 May, 1972

The PSNI released maps showing locations, dates and times of the shootings

In total, 17 people were injured, two of whom died.

More than half of those who were shot were teenagers, the youngest person to be wounded was a 15-year-old boy.

Earlier, Det Ch Insp Montgomery, said: "We are looking at these incidents as part of an overall investigation into the activities of the Military Reaction Force at the time.

"We know these events took place a long time ago and we know they took place during one of the worst years of the Troubles when many shootings occurred but we believe there are people out there who can help us progress this investigation and we are appealing to them to contact us."

The MRF was a small, secretive unit within the Army and consisted of about 40 undercover soldiers who patrolled west Belfast in unmarked cars.

It operated for about 18 months before it was disbanded in 1973.