apologised for the killings, stating that when it was clear the bomb plan had failed they had contacted the British Army and a local priest. Soldiers and the priest then warned people to stay away. 30 November: Three masked IRA volunteers left a bomb in a grocery shop near Loughall and escaped in a stolen car. The Army EOD carried out a controlled explosion inside McArtarsey's Store and the resultant fire caused major damage to the premises. 30 November: An army foot patrol on High Street in Newry came under sustained attack from IRA gunmen hidden in the grounds of St Clare's school; no soldiers were injured. 30 November: IRA volunteers started a fire as a 'come on' on Derry Lane, Dungiven. The RUC and fire brigade attended and came under fire from gunmen secreted in nearby fields. One RUC officer was hit in the neck and badly injured. 1 December 1976: An IRA rocket hit a British APC in Belfast. No injuries reported. 3 December 1976: A RUC reservist Joseph Scott (aged 50), a father of five, was on his regular duty guiding children over a school crossing in the centre of Dungannon. A masked gunman shot him three times in the back before escaping in a nearby car. He died en route to hospital. 3 December: An army foot patrol around the Short Strand in Belfast came under major gunfire from automatic weapons being fired from nearby nationalist housing. The soldiers returned fire and one IRA gunman was observed to fall, escaping with the aid of supporters into nearby housing. 3 December: The IRA bombed the Spar Foodliner Supermarket in Belfast. Nearby houses on St Ives Gardens, Stranmillis Road suffered collateral damage. 4 December: The IRA's Andersonstown unit attempted to explode a car bomb at the loyalist Linfield Football Club at Windsor Park. The 60 lb. device was defused by EOD. The football club was targeted several times during the Troubles. 4 December: A no-warning bomb exploded a few feet away from an Army OP on Mountview Street in the Oldpark area of Belfast. Several soldiers were inside the OP when the 10 lb. bomb exploded and were unhurt. 4 December: EOD spent seven hours defusing a massive 200 lb. milk churn bomb left by the IRA. Over 300 homes were evacuated as the Army worked on two milk churns packed with high explosives, shrapnel and a primed