Catherine Dunne

On 24 July 1990 the Provisional IRA (IRA) carried out an IED roadside bomb attack at the Killylea Road on the outskirts of Armagh City, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. An IRA active service unit detonated a large bomb as an unmarked Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) vehicle and a civilian car passed, killing three RUC officers and a Catholic nun.

Background On 9 April 1990 four UDR soldiers (Michael Adams, John Birch, John Bradley, Steven Smart) were killed in a similar attack when the IRA detonated a landmine under their patrol vehicle on Ballydugan Road, Downpatrick, County Down. The landmine contained over of explosive.

Ambush On the afternoon of 24 July 1990, 37-year-old nun Catherine Dunne was driving an Austin Metro car with a passenger, Cathy McCann, a 25-year-old social worker. Some hours previously, members of the IRA took over a house close to Killylea Road, two miles outside Armagh, County Armagh, holding its occupants, a married couple and their children, at gunpoint.

A detonating wire was placed from the house to a bomb, placed in a culvert under Killylea Road. At approximately 2 p.m., as Dunne's car was driving to Armagh, a Royal Ulster Constabulary patrol car was traveling in the opposite direction. Dunne's car passed by the patrol car just as the police drove over the culvert, at which point the IRA detonated the bomb. Constable William James Hanson (37), and reserve officers Joshua Cyril Willis (35) and David Sterritt (34), were all killed instantly; their car was blown into the air and landed upside down.

Aftermath

Sister Fiona Fullham, a regional superior of the Sisters of St. Louis, said, "I would pray that all those in Northern Ireland who have been involved in violence would try to think of the human face of the people who have died and who are dying, and of the families who are suffering needlessly all these years ... I would say, please stop. Please stop." Sister Catherine was remembered as an athletic and lively woman, who was an enthusiastic jogger and swimmer.

One man was cconvicted of the bombing and received a life sentence, but was released in 2000 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.