Editing Red Hand Commando (section)

====1980s====
*27 May 1980: Two RHC members carried out a gun attack on the home of a prison officer in Belfast.<ref>''Belfast Telegraph'', 24 March 1981</ref>
*August 1981: According to [[Michael Stone (loyalist)|Michael Stone]], the RHC planned a bomb attack aimed at [[Charles Haughey|Charles Haughey's]] yacht, the Taurima II, while it was berthed at Dingle Harbour, County Kerry. Stone claimed the RHC operative planned to "wire Haughey's boat with five pounds of commercial explosives. … [he] would attach the bomb to the on-board radio using an electrical detonator. Once the radio was switched on, the bomb would explode". The operation was aborted after two RHC operatives were arrested a week earlier for a robbery and the explosives became volatile in transit from a quarry in Scotland. Elements of [[MI5]] allegedly provided a dossier on Haughey to the RHC.<ref>{{cite news|author=Joseph de Búrca|date=21 February 2018|url=https://villagemagazine.ie/profile-the-men-who-tried-to-murder-haughey/|title=Britain: Profile: The Men who tried to Murder Haughey|publisher=Village|access-date=18 June 2020|archive-date=20 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620065633/https://villagemagazine.ie/profile-the-men-who-tried-to-murder-haughey/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*29 January 1982: RHC founder John McKeague was shot dead at his shop on Albertbridge Road, Belfast. by the [[Irish National Liberation Army]] (INLA).<ref>Jack Holland & Henry McDonald, ''INLA – Deadly Divisions'', Torc, 1994, pp. 199–200</ref>
*14 July 1986: The RHC claimed responsibility for a no-warning car bomb in [[Castlewellan]], County Down that injured two people; the attack was revenge for a ban on an [[Orange Order]] parade through the predominantly-Catholic town. The UFF also claimed responsibility.<ref>{{cite web|title=The long reach of the Red Hand|author=The Irish Echo|url=https://www.irishecho.com/2011/02/the-long-reach-of-the-red-hand-2/|date=16 February 1986|access-date=16 February 2021|archive-date=26 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210926144926/https://group.irishecho.com/2011/02/the-long-reach-of-the-red-hand-2/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Sunday Tribune'', 20 July 1986.</ref>
*6 January 1988: The RHC (thought to have been "extinct" for some years at this time) claimed responsibility for a blast-bomb thrown into the home of a Catholic man in the Short Strand area of east Belfast.<ref name="Fortnight Publications 1988"/>
*2 October 1988: The RHC fired twenty shots at the home of a former INLA member in the Ormeau Road area of Belfast.<ref name=bbc2016>{{cite news|title=Winston 'Winkie' Rea charged with murders of two Catholic workmen|publisher=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-36456109|date=6 June 2016|access-date=16 February 2021|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129173004/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-36456109|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Ex-INLA prisoner Malachy McAllister is deported from US to Ireland|author=Suzanne Lynch|newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/ex-inla-prisoner-malachy-mcallister-is-deported-from-us-to-ireland-1.4275064|date=9 June 2020|access-date=16 February 2021|archive-date=26 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226200403/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/ex-inla-prisoner-malachy-mcallister-is-deported-from-us-to-ireland-1.4275064|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''Irish Independent'', 3 October 1988.</ref>
*23 July 1989: The RHC shot dead a Catholic civilian (John Devine) at his home in the Divis area of Belfast. The attack wasn't attributed to a specific Loyalist group at the time, but in 2016 former RHC leader [[Winkie Rea]] was charged with the murder.<ref name=bbc2016/>