On 7 May 1992, members of the IRA South Fermanagh Brigade detonated a 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bomb delivered by a tractor after crossing through a hedge outside the local RUC part-time barracks.

[4][5] According to a later IRA's statement, the destruction of the security base compelled the British forces to organise their patrols from the nearby RUC barracks at Clogher, allowing the East Tyrone Brigade to study their pattern and carry out the 1993 ambush at Fivemiletown's main street.

[1] A secondary incident occurred a some hours later, on 9 May, when a British soldier killed his company's sergeant major in a blue-on-blue shooting at the same place, while taking part of a security detail around the wrecked facilities.

[12] The IRA reported that two active service units from the East Tyrone Brigade had taken up positions in the centre of Fivemiletown and identified the RUC unmarked vehicle before the ambush.

[13] A “major” follow up security operation was mounted between Fivemiletown and the border with the Republic of Ireland,[12] supported by airborne troops and RUC reinforcements, in an attempt to block the attackers getaway.

[15] Approximately an hour after the ambush, an Army Air Corps Lynx helicopter came upon a number of IRA volunteers in the searching area, just a few miles from the site of the shooting, but the aircraft became the target of automatic rifle fire and was forced to disengage.

[18] The ambush and killing of the two constables at Fivemiletown was mentioned by Member of Parliament Ken Maginnis and Prime Minister John Major during the latter's speech to the House of Commons right after the joint Downing Street Declaration with Albert Reynolds, the Irish Taoiseach, that set the basis of the Northern Ireland peace process, on 15 December 1993, just three days after the attack.