Michael Stone was a loyalist , a member of the Ulster Defence Association ( UDA ) who had been involved in several killings and other attacks , and who described himself as a " freelance loyalist paramilitary " . Stone learned that there would be little security force presence at the funerals , and planned " to take out the Sinn Féin and IRA leadership at the graveside " . He said his attack was retaliation for the Remembrance Day bombing four months earlier , when eleven Protestants had been killed by an IRA bomb at a Remembrance Sunday ceremony . He later told journalist Peter Taylor that " it was symbolic : the IRA had attacked a British cenotaph and he was taking revenge by attacking the IRA equivalent " . Stone claimed that he and other UDA members considered planting bombs in the graveyard , but abandoned the plan because the bombs might miss the republican leaders . He instead decided to carry out a one-man attack with guns and grenades . Stone claimed that a " senior member of the UDA " had given him the organisation 's official clearance for the attack and that he was given a Browning Hi-Power 9 mm pistol , a Ruger Speed-Six .357 Magnum revolver and seven RGD-5 grenades the night before the funeral
Remembrance Day bombing
Remembrance Day bombing
Milltown Cemetery attack