A major IRA attack in County Tyrone took place on 20 August 1988 , barely a year after Loughall , which ended in the deaths of eight soldiers when a British Army bus was bombed at Curr Road , near Ballygawley . The soldiers were being transported from RAF Aldergrove to a military base near Omagh after returning from leave in England . This attack forced the British military to ferry their troops to and from East Tyrone by helicopter . On 30 August 1988 , an SAS ambush killed IRA members Gerard Harte , Martin Harte and Brian Mullin as they tried to kill an off-duty Ulster Defence Regiment member near Carrickmore . British intelligence identified them as the perpetrators of the attack on the military bus at Curr Road . On 16 September 1989 , a British sergeant of the Royal Corps of Signals ( Kevin Froggett ) was shot and killed by an IRA sniper while he was repairing a radio mast at Coalisland Army/RUC base
British Army bus was bombed
Ballygawley bus bombing
Provisional IRA East Tyrone Brigade