The Newry mortar attack by the Provisional IRA on an RUC station in 1985 , which killed nine officers ( including two Catholics ) , resulted in the highest number of deaths inflicted on the RUC in one incident . The two highest-ranking RUC officers to be killed during " the Troubles " were Chief Superintendent Harry Breen and Superintendent Robert Buchanan , who were ambushed by the Provisional IRA South Armagh Brigade outside Jonesborough , County Armagh , on 20 March 1989 . On 4 December 2013 , in a report by judge Peter Smithwick in the Smithwick Tribunal ( a public inquiry ) , it was alleged that members of the Republic 's police force ( An Garda Síochána ) had colluded in the killing of the two policemen . The last RUC officer killed as a direct result of the conflict , Francis O'Reilly ( a Catholic constable ) , died on 6 October 1998 , a month after he had been injured in a Red Hand Defenders pipe-bomb attack in Portadown during the Drumcree conflict
Newry mortar attack
1985 Newry mortar attack
Royal Ulster Constabulary