00:00 SAS soldiers have shot dead a three-man IRA gang in the Tyrone village of Coch.
00:05 The IRA have confirmed they were on what they call active service.
00:10 It appears the undercover soldiers were acting on intelligence
00:13 and were lying in wait when the gang drove into the village in a stolen car.
00:17 The men died in a hail of gunfire but precise details are still unclear.
00:21 Sinn FĂ©in has accused the security forces of a shoot-to-kill policy.
00:25 The DUP leader, the Reverend Ian Paisley,
00:28 says this is an example of what the security forces can do
00:31 and that it is now time for a war to the death against the IRA.
00:36 It was half past seven this morning when the piece of the village of Coch
00:39 was shattered by what locals described as up to ten minutes of rapid gunfire.
00:44 It ended when the Vauxhall Cavalier, with the three IRA men inside,
00:48 burst into flames as it crashed into a parked car outside the home of the local vet.
00:54 Closer inspection shows a fusillade of bullets which peppered the side of the car.
00:59 The bodies of two of the men lie partially outside, covered by a tarpaulin.
01:03 All three have been burnt beyond recognition.
01:06 A balaclava lies in the roadway. Police say two rifles were recovered at the scene.
01:12 Pensioner Elsie Mackle-Ree, out for an early morning stroll with her dog,
01:16 found the violent scene unfolding right around her.
01:19 I just heard shooting, that was all. I heard shooting was coming at the bridge.
01:25 And what did you see around you?
01:27 I just saw a lorry, but I looked in, but there was no one up.
01:31 Was that the red lorry?
01:32 Yes, the red lorry.
01:34 Where were the soldiers at this stage?
01:35 They must have been behind that lorry.
01:40 I only saw one soldier, and then I saw the police up the top of the road.
01:44 Was there a lot of shooting?
01:46 No, just two or three, but a lot.
01:50 You were quite lucky then.
01:51 I was, mind you, I was indeed.
01:54 The shooting happened at the lower end of the village,
01:56 where a group of Protestant workmen gather at that time each morning to wait for a lift to work.
02:01 There's no doubt that they were the terrorists' intended targets.
02:05 The scene is only yards from the garage where three Protestants were gunned down by the IRA in March 1989.
02:12 The owner, Leslie Dallet, and two friends, Ernie Rankin and Austin Nelson, were shot dead in that attack.
02:19 Local Sinn FĂ©in councillor Sean Begley, today representing the families of the three dead IRA men,
02:24 tussled with police, who refused to let him up to examine the scene.
02:29 He accused the security forces of using unreasonable force and of covering up the facts.
02:34 He was eventually arrested and driven away.
02:37 The dead men were Lawrence McNally, aged 39, married with a daughter from Ballanderi outside Coke.
02:43 His brother, Phelan, was shot dead two years ago when Loyalist went to kill a third brother,
02:48 Cookstown Sinn FĂ©in councillor Francie McNally.
02:51 37-year-old Peter Ryan, who'd been on the run for 10 years since escaping from Crumlin Road jail.
02:58 His cousin was shot dead by Loyalist at a bar at nearby Washing Bay two years ago.
03:03 And Tony Doris, a 21-year-old single man from Coal Island, a cousin of a Dungannon Sinn FĂ©in councillor.
03:10 The MP for the area was quickly on the scene this morning.
03:15 Terrorists were on their way to do murder.
03:20 I'm thankful, very thankful, that the terrorists have received their just reward,
03:28 and that innocent life has been spared.
03:31 And anyone who comes out to condemn the activity of the security forces today
03:35 have no consideration or thought or heart for the innocent of Ulster.
03:41 Mr Macrae said this was an example of what the security forces could do when their hands were untied,
03:47 and called for a military rather than a political strategy.
03:51 A call rejected by the Catholic Primate of Ireland, but strongly condoned by Mr Macrae's party leader.
03:57 It shows that the government have the resources.
04:01 It shows that they have the intelligence.
04:03 It shows they have the manpower.
04:06 And it shows they're capable of defeating the Irish Republican Army menace.
04:11 And they have got to continue to do that.
04:15 And I hope that this type of thing will gather momentum,
04:19 and that inside a month we will see such a force of attrition with the IRA that the menace will be stopped in its tracks.
04:29 And I think that the time has now come for a full-out war, war to the death, against the IRA and all its works.
04:39 That is not the answer. That is not the problem.
04:42 The problem is not one of a total community in conflict with another total community.
04:47 It's not one that can be met by military means.
04:50 There is no military way of overcoming paramilitary violence.
04:55 And any security policy that would lead to, as it inevitably would,
05:02 to heavy harassment of one community will not succeed.
05:07 It will play into the hands of the terrorists on either side.
05:11 I think what is obvious is that the IRA and others are seeing the difficulties that the political process is having at the present moment of time as their opportunity.
05:20 What I think they're trying to do is either frighten people within the Northern Irish political community,
05:26 or to make it more difficult to proceed towards proper negotiations.
05:30 I hope all parties have sufficient will and commitment to ensure that that won't happen.
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