Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) was the main republican paramilitary organization in Northern Ireland. It sought to force the withdrawal of the British and establish a unified Ireland. The PIRA formed in 1969 after a split in the Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary organization that had fought for the establishment of the Republic of Ireland in the south. In Northern Ireland, the Provisionals split from the core of the Irish Republican Army, which came to be known as the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA), accusing its leadership of neglecting the military aspect of the Irish struggle in favor of a failing political strategy. PIRA targeted British security forces [...]