Back to Search ResultsIncident Summary:
04/04/2006: Denis Donaldson, the former Sinn Féin member at the center of the spy scandal which brought down the Northern Ireland Assembly, was found shot dead and his body was discovered by Gardaí at 5 p.m. at his home in County Donegal with a gunshot wound to his chest. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.Overview
GTD ID:
200604040015
When:
2006-04-04
Country:
Ireland
Region:
Western Europe
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Donegal
City:
Maas
Location Details:
8 km from Glenties village in townland of Classey on the road to Doochary
What
| Target Type: Private Citizens & Property | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Entity | Political System of Northern Ireland | ||
| Specific Description | Denis Donaldson, former member of Sinn Féin | ||
| Nationality of Target | Northern Ireland | ||
| Hostages | No |
| Ransom | No |
| Property Damage | Yes |
| Extent of Property Damage | Minor (likely < $1 million) |
| Value of Property Damage | Unknown |
How
| Type | Sub-type |
|---|---|
| Firearms | Rifle/Shotgun (non-automatic) |
| Weapon Details | |
| The weapon to Donaldson's chest was by a shotgun. There was suspicions that we may have been tortured before death and his body mutilated. The first two shot were fired at the door, and the second two hit him. | |
| Suicide Attack? | No |
| Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
| Criterion 1 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 2 (more) | Yes |
| Criterion 3 (more) | Yes |
| Doubt Terrorism Proper (more) | No |
| Additional Information | The Irish Justice Minister initially had said the gunshot wound was to the head, but a post mortem indicated it was towards the chest. There had been an open-ended search on the whereabouts of Donaldson's own gun after the attack. --Donaldson told a news conference on Dec. 16, 2005 that he had been working as a British spy and working for the British secret service as an insider in the Irish Republican Army since the 1980's, and that there had never been a spy ring at Stormont. He then moved from his Belfast home to a cottage near the village of Glenties in County Donegal to go into hiding because the IRA's punishment for informing is death. --The IRA and Sinn Féin denied involvement in the murder. On April 8, Donaldson was buried at Belfast City Cemetery instead of Milltown Cemetery, a symbol of Irish republicanism, and was perceived as a final snub by the republican movement. --A year later, senior Gardaí stated that the murder may have been an accidental result of a botched kidnapping operation by an IRA gang to extract information about Donaldson's work with the British. In July 2007, Gardaí believed that they had a senior figure in the IRA with a history of involvement of the IRA's terrorist campaign as a suspect. |
Who
| Group Name | Claimed Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Irish Republican Army (IRA) (suspected) | No |
| Number of Perpetrators | Unknown |
| Number of Captured Perpetrators | 0 |
| Total Number of Casualties | 1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
| Total Number of Fatalities | 1 |
| Number of U.S. Fatalities | 0 |
| Number of Perpetrator Fatalities | 0 |
| Total Number of Injured | 0 |
| Number of U.S. Injured | 0 |
| Number of Perpetrators Injured | 0 |
Sources
| Moriarty, Gerry and Keenan, Dan, “Republican members suspected of killing Donaldson,” The Irish Times, April 06, 2006. |
| Lavery, Brian, “IRA aide who spied for British is killed; Death called a threat to Ulster equilibrium,” The International Herald Tribune, April 04, 2006. |
| Sharrock, David, “Gardai identify agent's killer as IRA man,” Sunday Times (London), July 29, 2007. |
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