Brendan Hughes & Seamus Twomey lead IRA in battle with British Army, Lenadoon, Belfast, 9 July 1972

[FOR HISTORICAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY]
Two days after secret talks between the British Government and IRA leadership in London broke down, the IRA in the West Belfast became involved in a sectarian confrontation in the Lenadoon Estate where there was an attempt by a large group of Catholics to move families into 16 empty council houses in Lenadoon Avenue that had been abandoned by Protestants, who had fled their homes due to the recent sectarian rioting, the Catholic families had themselves been forced to flee from other parts of the city. In an attempt to prevent a riot between the Catholics and the Protestant population that resided in the South of the Lenadoon Estate which had support from the UDA, a British Army detachment blocked the road with its armoured vehicles to halt the crowds advance, which then deteriorated into a riot when the Army rammed a moving truck to prevent it crossing the barricade. That evening the IRA in Belfast announced an end to its ceasefire, saying that the act was in response to events at Lenadoon Estate, and IRA Army Council member Seamus Twomey, who had been negotiating with the British Army in the district up until that point, ordered Brendan Hughes who was in command of an IRA unit in the vicinity to open fire on the British Army, and gun battles broke out