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<\/p>\nUlster Human Rights Watch (UHRW), which is assisting some of the families, welcomed the decision of the Independent Commission of Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRAR) to investigate the atrocity. <\/p>\n
Bereaved relatives have described the move as “real progress and a significant advance for relatives” with some demanding that the dead men suspected of carrying out the attack on a minibus full of textile workers as they travelled home from work near Kingsmills in south Armagh in 1976 be named. <\/p>\n
Kenneth Worton, whose brother Colin was among those slain, wants real answers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an opportunity here to get answers to events that surrounded the massacre,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cForty-nine years on from these brutal slayings, we have been given some hope by this decision by the ICRIR to launch an investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies can only expect limited closure but naming those who gunned down our relatives would be a positive step.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The bullet-hole-riddled bus after the Kingsmill tragedy. Photo: Alan Lewis\/PA<\/p>\n
Watch: Kingsmill report finds failings in original probe and \u2018wholly insufficient\u2019 use of resources to catch IRA killers<\/p>\n
The Kingsmill legacy inquest coroner ruled that approach out as part of the process.<\/p>\n
Ten Protestant workmen were murdered in the IRA attack near Whitecross with the youngest victim aged only 18-years-old \u2013 he was Robert Chambers.<\/p>\n
One worker, Richard Hughes, was prevented by his concerned colleagues from revealing his religious identify when one of the gunmen asked which one was Catholic.<\/p>\n
When Hughes did reveal himself, he was instructed to \u201cGet down the road and don\u2019t look back\u201d before his 11 colleagues were then shot.<\/p>\n
Then 32-year-old Alan Black was the sole survivor.<\/p>\n
![\"Alan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/775f2031-ac5c-497d-ae84-4d2f6007dde3.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Alan Black survived the Kingsmill massacre despite being shot 18 times<\/p>\n
Almost 50 years later, the ICRAR has formally accepted the request by two families to investigate the sectarian killings.<\/p>\n
UHRW Advocacy worker, Jonathan Larner said the Irish government had been \u201cdragging its heels on Kingsmill as with all cross-border cases\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies want to see Dublin become fully engaged with the ICRIR and agree to open their files,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe role of the Garda\u00ed deserves close scrutiny if we are to get to the truth and if suspicions of collusion are to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision by the ICRIR is real progress and a significant advance for relatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cKingsmill families have waited long enough for answers which merely served to retraumatise them and cause pain and anguish.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey hope to learn why, for example, Public Interest Immunity Certificates were issued and what they were attempting to conceal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso concerning are the reasons for the Irish \u2018closed court\u2019. Why and what purpose did that serve?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to shine a light into a dark corner and the hope has to be that the ICRIR unearths information that gives the families some closure and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUHRW calls on the Republic of Ireland Government to effectively commit itself to co-operating fully and unreservedly with the ICRIR providing unfettered access to the information it holds in relation to this barbaric atrocity.\u201d<\/p>\n
The names of the 11 suspected perpetrators, who are now deceased, were not revealed by the Kingsmill massacre coroner back in April 2024.<\/p>\n
Families have submitted 57 questions to the ICRAR.<\/p>\n
John Bryans (46), Reginald Chapman (29), Walter Chapman (35), Robert Freeburn (50), Joseph Lemmon (46), John McConville (20), James McWhirter (58) and Robert Walker (46) were also among the victims. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ulster Human Rights Watch (UHRW), which is assisting some of the families, welcomed the decision of the Independent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[22306,1144,6568,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-95456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-ira","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-the-troubles","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114495168928827581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}