TRIBUTES have been paid to the victims of two Troubles tragedies as their 50-year anniversaries fell this week.
The Reavey and O’Dowd killings and the Kingsmill massacre both happened in early January in 1976.
The sectarian attacks saw six Catholic and ten Protestants killed in some of the worst atrocities of the conflict in Northern Ireland.
On January 4, 1976, Catholics John Reavey, Brian Reavey, Anthony Reavey, Joseph O’Dowd, Barry O’Dowd, and Declan O’Dowd were murdered, minutes apart, in two separate incidents in Armagh.
The following day ten Protestants, namely John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Reginald Chapman, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Walker and Kenneth Worton, were murdered in the Kingsmill area of the county.
Noone has ever been brought to justice for either incident.
“This week marks the 50th anniversary of two of the worst sectarian atrocities of the Troubles: the Reavey and O’Dowd killings and the Kingsmill massacre,” Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said in a statement.
“My thoughts this week are with the victims’ families and with Alan Black, the sole survivor of the Kingsmill massacre,” she added.
“It remains deeply regrettable that no one has been held responsible for these attacks to date, and I would like to commend the victims’ families for their unwavering courage and determination in their quest for truth and justice.
“I call on anyone with information relating to the attacks to contact the authorities.”
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn also paid tribute this week.
“My thoughts are with the victims and the families of the Kingsmill Massacre, and with the Reavey and O’Dowd families, in marking 50 years since these horrific killings which caused such deep pain and suffering,” he said in a post on the social media.
Memorial services have been held this week marking the lives lost in both tragedies.
Each of the three families continue to campaign for justice and information about what happened to their loved ones.
The O'Dowd and Reavey families are awaiting the publication of a report into the activities of the loyalist gang responsible for their murders.
An interim report has previously suggested their killers were members of what became known as the UVF’s Glenanne Gang.
The Kingsmill families have called on the Irish government to release any information it may have on the identities of their killers.
See More: Anniversary, Kingsmill Massaxre, O Dowd, Reavey, Troubles
