This timeline lists known examples of paramilitary and politically motivated violence in the Troubles in Northern Ireland, between 1985 and 1989. These chronologies are regularly updated as new information becomes available. We welcome information about errors or incidents not listed here. In these timelines the term “civilian” refers to an individual with no known or established political or paramilitary affiliations.

1985
February 1st: An off duty UDR member is shot dead by an IRA gunman while driving a school bus near Derrylin, County Fermanagh.
February 23rd: Three Provisional IRA volunteers aged 17-22 are shot dead by the British SAS near an arms dump outside Strabane, County Tyrone. 
February 28th: The Provisional IRA launch nine mortars at an RUC station in Newry. One mortar lands on a temporary canteen, killing nine RUC officers and injuring 37 others.
March 3rd: A Catholic RUC officer is shot dead while leaving church in Enniskillen.
April 7th: A 24-year-old Catholic civilian is shot dead while walking in Enniskillen, probably by Loyalist paramilitaries
May 20th: A Provisional IRA bomb explodes near Killeen, County Armagh, killing four RUC officers.
August 22nd: In a case of mistaken identity, a 65-year-old Catholic civilian is shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Strabane, County Tyrone.
October 7th: The Provisional IRA assassinates a 20-year-old Catholic, reputedly an informer, outside Strabane, County Tyrone.
December 7th: Members of the Provisional IRA attack an RUC station at Ballygawley, County Tyrone. Two RUC officers were killed by gunfire and the station building was destroyed by a bomb.

1986
February 3rd: A 21-year-old UDR soldier is killed by an IRA bomb while patrolling near Belcoo, County Fermanagh.
February 11th: An off duty RUC officer and a Catholic civilian are shot dead by IRA gunmen at a bar in Maguiresbridge, County Fermanagh.
April 14th: Keith White, a 20-year-old Protestant, is struck by an RUC plastic bullet during unrest in Portadown. He dies 15 days later.

1987
January 9th: An IRA bomb planted in a rubbish bin in Enniskillen is detonated, killing a RUC officer on foot patrol.
March 14th: The Irish National Liberation Army assassinates two of its members who had attempted to form a breakaway group.
March 23rd: A 300-pound IRA bomb explodes near the officers’ mess in Rheindahlen, a British military base in Germany, injuring 31 people.
May 8th: Eight Provisional IRA personnel attack an RUC station in Loughgall, County Armagh, but are engaged by a platoon of British SAS commandos. All eight IRA members are killed, along with a civilian caught in the crossfire.
July 19th: A 21-year-old British Army soldier is shot and killed by an IRA sniper while on foot patrol in Belleek, County Fermanagh.
November 8th: The Provisional IRA bombs a Remembrance Day ceremony in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh. The blast kills 11 people: ten Protestants and a RUC officer.

1988
March 6th: The British SAS thwarts an IRA plot to bomb troops in Gibraltar. Three Provisional IRA volunteers are shot dead.
March 16th: A lone Loyalist, Michael Stone, attacks mourners at an IRA funeral in Milltown Cemetery, Belfast. Armed with pistols and hand grenades, Stone kills three people and injuries dozens more before being arrested.
March 18th: Gillian Johnston, a 21-year-old sales assistant, is gunned down by an IRA unit in Belleek as she sat with her fiance. The IRA later admitted that Johnson’s killing had been a mistake.
March 19th: Two British Army corporals are beaten, tortured and murdered in Belfast after accidentally driving into the funeral cortege for an IRA member.
April 6th: In County Fermanagh an off duty UDR soldier is killed when the Provisional IRA attach an explosive booby trap to his car.
April 26th: A 22-year-old Protestant and off duty UDR member is shot by the Provisional IRA near Ardboe, County Tyrone.
June 15th: The Provisional IRA places a bomb underneath a van carrying six off-duty British soldiers in Lisbon, County Antrim. All six are killed in the resulting explosion.
August 3rd: An off duty UDR member is ambushed and killed by Provisional IRA gunmen while driving to work near Cookstown, County Tyrone.
August 4th: Two Protestant civilians working on police barracks in Belleek, County Fermanagh, are shot by the Provisional IRA as they drove out of the base.
August 10th: A 22-year-old INLA volunteer is shot and killed while attacking a British Army checkpoint near Strabane, County Tyrone.
August 20th: The Provisional IRA detonate a roadside bomb near Ballygawley, County Tyrone, destroying a bus carrying British Army personnel. Eight soldiers were killed and 28 others were injured.
August 30th: Three Provisional IRA volunteers, all in their 20s, are killed by undercover British soldiers during a covert operation in Drumnakilly, County Tyrone.
October 4th: A guard at HM Prison Maze, Brian Armour, is killed by a booby trap planted under his car by the Provisional IRA. Another prison guard, John Hanna, supplied Armour’s home address to the IRA.

1989
January 28th: An RUC officer, aged 26, is killed by an IRA grenade attack on his vehicle outside Strabane, County Tyrone.
February 12th: Pat Fincuane, a Republican solicitor, is assassinated by two Loyalist paramilitaries in north Belfast.
March 7th: Three Protestant men, including an alleged UVF member, are shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Coagh, County Tyrone.
March 20th: The Provisional IRA’s South Armagh faction shoots dead two high-ranking RUC officers near Jonesborough.
June 27th: A RUC reservist is killed when an IRA booby trap planted beneath his car explodes in Strabane, County Tyrone.
August 12th: Seamus Duffy, a 15-year-old Catholic boy, is hit and killed by an RUC-fired plastic bullet in Belfast.
September 22nd: The Provisional IRA a bomb in a Royal Marines barracks in Deal, England, killing 11 soldiers, all of them musicians.
November 29th: A Provisional IRA volunteer and a Catholic civilian are shot and killed by UVF gunmen during an attack on a bar outside Coagh.
December 13th: The Provisional IRA attack a British Army checkpoint in Derryard, near the border with the Republic of Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed.