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Ireland Frees 2 I.R.A. Men in 1996 Killing

The last two men imprisoned for Provisional I.R.A. offenses were released from prison on Wednesday, closing another chapter in peacemaking yet rekindling memories of a killing that infuriated much of Ireland.

The two men, Pearse McCauley and Kevin Walsh, walked free from Ireland's Castlerea prison more than 10 years after they were convicted in the killing by the Irish Republican Army of an Irish policeman guarding a cash delivery van.

Mr. McCauley and Mr. Walsh were the last imprisoned members of the Provisionals, the dominant faction of the I.R.A., which killed nearly 1,800 people during a failed 30-year campaign to force Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. Britain and Ireland continue to incarcerate more than three dozen members of dissident I.R.A. groups opposed to the Provisionals' 2005 decisions to renounce violence and disarm.

The June 1996 killing of the policeman inflamed opinion in the Republic of Ireland, which the outlawed I.R.A. used as a haven while mounting attacks on the neighboring British territory of Northern Ireland...
Read entire article at NYT