Mali: Rebels take key Tessalit military camp
France 24 →In Mali, the country's army and its Russian mercenary allies lost control of a key northern military stronghold to armed rebels on Friday, marking a significant setback as Tuareg separatists and jihadist groups appear to be operating in a coordinated effort to challenge the ruling junta.
REBELS CAPTURE IRISH BARRACKS
Cork, Dec. 7—(By Associated Press.)—Two hundred rebels captured the barracks at Ballymakeera, near Macroom yesterday, killing one man and wounding 15. The rebels took 9 prisoners including Commandant Mooney, after a fight lasting several hours, but released them later. The fight was the fiercest yet reported in County Cork. Before advancing on the barracks, the irregulars captured an armored car at Brandon, which they used, together with machine guns and bombs, in their attack on the troops defending the village. The Free State military was eventually outnumbered and forced to surrender.
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Liam Mellows
William Joseph Mellows (25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. He was executed by the Free State as one of four senior Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners shot as a reprisal on 8 December 1922.
Wikipedia →Executions during the Irish Civil War
Five Free State soldiers were killed by a booby trap bomb while searching a Republican dugout at Knocknagoshel, County Kerry, on 6 March 1923. The next day, the local Free State commander in Kerry authorised the use of Republican prisoners to 'clear mined roads' — tying them to mines and detonating them.
Wikipedia →Irish Civil War
By early 1923, the offensive capability of the IRA had been seriously eroded and when, in February 1923, the Republican leader Liam Deasy was captured by Free State forces, he called on the republicans to end their campaign. The State's executions of anti-treaty prisoners, 34 of whom were shot in January 1923, also took its toll on the Republicans' morale. March and April 1923 saw this progressive dismemberment of the Republican forces continue with the capture and sometimes killing of guerrilla columns.
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