1980s 1990s The Killeeshil ambush took place on 15 July 1994, when an armour plated vehicle of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was intercepted by a tipper lorry driven by a Provisional IRA active service unit from the East Tyrone Brigade and riddled with automatic rifle fire while travelling on the Dungannon Road at Killeeshil crossroads, in southern County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Three members of the RUC were wounded, as well as a Sinn Fein councillor from Clones, Republic of Ireland, who by chance had been arrested earlier at the Irish border and was being transported to Belfast.

Expectations regarding a Provisional IRA permanent ceasefire were high by mid-1994; that decision would have the potential of moving the political process forward, which could lead to an everlasting peace in the region.

[10] The most notable of these incidents was a double ambush that took place in Fivemiletown on 12 December 1993, when two RUC constables were killed and a British Army Lynx helicopter shot at in the aftermath.

[16] Once the RUC vehicle, an armour plated Vauxhall Cavalier, was identified, the lorry overtook the car, while at least two masked IRA men, shielded by the tipper body, opened up with automatic rifles.

[12][19] The IRA ambush was described as “indiscriminate, foolhardy and mad” by local SLDP councillor Anthony McGonnell, who stressed that “It was an absolute miracle that nobody was murdered”.