Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO)

                 Irish People's Liberation Organisation

      IPLO

The Irish People's Liberation Organisation (IPLO) was set up in 1986 by disaffected Volunteers from the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). 

It was set up as a revolutionary socialist urban guerrilla organisation and it's first goal was to wipe out the INLA. From December 1986 - March 1987 the IPLO & INLA had a bloody feud which had a devastating physiological impact on the Nationalist people of Belfast seeing so many Republicans kill & injure each other. Some potentially great revoltutionary leaders were killed in the feud like Thomas "Ta" Power on the INLA side & Gerard Steenson on the IPLO side.  

After the feud ended the IPLO mainly concentrated on the growing threat from Loyalist paramilitary death squads. Jimmy Brown was the IPLO's leader, he was also in charge of it's political wing called the Republican Socialist Collective. Unlike the IRA they were more willing to attack clubs & pubs owned by Loyalists, the IRA feared people would view this as sectarian. In 1989 they shot up a Loyalist club on the Shankill Road and killed a former member of the Loyalist death squad called the Red Hand Commando shooting Stephen McRea who was just recently out of prison a number of times, several other people were injured in the attack. In 1987 they executed outspoken DUP & UVF member George Seawright, this was probably the biggest target the IPLO killed during it's existence. They shot up a number of pubs in 1990 & 1991 killing a number of well known Loyalists. 

Around 1992  elements crept into the IPLO  that caused tension and eventually  caused the group to split into two. One group lead by IPLO rebel Sammy Ward styled themselves as the IPLO Belfast Brigade faction and the other lead by Jimmy Brown were known as the IPLO Army Council faction. On the 18 August 1992 the IPLO Belfast Brigade shot dead Jimmy Brown in Clonard Street in west Belfast, this was the beginning of the end for the IPLO, two weeks later on the 27 August another IPLO Army Council man Hugh McKibbin was killed by the IPLOBB in the Whiterock area of Belfast. The IPLO Army Council faction struck back on the 1 September 1992 killing IPLOBB man Michael Macklin.

Tired of the constant in-fighting between the IPLO the Provisional IRA decided to move against it. On the 31 October 1992, in an event that became known as the "Night of the Long Knifes" the IRA moved against the IPLO in a city wiped sweep, up to 100 IRA Volunteers kneecaped & injured dozens of IPLO Belfast men & shot dead it's leader Sammy Ward. On the 3 November 1992 the IPLO BB officially surrendered to the IRA Belfast Brigade and the IPLO Army Council followed suit a few days later and disbanded the IPLO as a active military group.