By the mid-1970s , the conflict in Northern Ireland , known as the Troubles , showed no signs of abating . The Provisional Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) intensified its bombing campaign to drive British forces out , and began targeting English cities . The main loyalist paramilitary groups — the UVF and Ulster Defence Association ( UDA ) — responded with random attacks on the local Catholic population , which in turn led to IRA reprisals against Protestants . During 1975 the IRA was officially on ceasefire . Loyalists believed the ceasefire was part of a secret deal between the British Government and IRA which would mean a British withdrawal from Northern Ireland . According to journalist Peter Taylor , the vicious tit-for-tat violence between the IRA and loyalists made 1975 one of the " bloodiest years of the conflict " . In Belfast , the loyalist Shankill Butchers gang , led by Lenny Murphy , began an 18-month killing spree designed to strike terror into the Catholic community , whom they believed were giving succour to the IRA . The gang would drive around Catholic areas in a black taxi and kidnap random Catholic passersby , then torture and hack them to death . However , most tit-for-tat attacks were bombings and shootings targeting pubs , or roadside ambushes , as in the case of the Miami Showband massacre . This saw three members of the popular Irish cabaret band shot dead at a fake military checkpoint by UVF gunmen in British Army uniforms . Two of those convicted were Ulster Defence Regiment ( UDR ) soldiers . Investigations established that UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade commander Robin Jackson was the organizer and main gunman in the July 1975 ambush . Described as " the most notorious Loyalist paramilitary in Northern Ireland " , it was also revealed that he was a Royal Ulster Constabulary ( RUC ) Special Branch agent . A further 50 paramilitary attacks have been linked to Jackson , including the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings , which killed 33 people . In January 1976 , the UVF killed six members of two Catholic families in a co-ordinated attack . The following evening , IRA members ( using the covername " Republican Action Force " ) retaliated by shooting eleven Protestant men after ordering them out of a minibus . Only one survived . Loyalists sought revenge , and members of the UVF Mid-Ulster Brigade planned to attack a nearby Catholic primary school . The operation was aborted by the UVF leadership on the grounds that it was " morally unacceptable " , would provoke a terrible response from the IRA and could spark civil war
killed six members of two Catholic families
Reavey and O'Dowd killings
Hillcrest Bar bombing