British military intelligence knew about the existence of a supposedly secret IRA unit called “the Unknowns” months before it started abducting, killing and secretly burying victims who became remembered as “the disappeared”. A military file recently unearthed from the National Archives in Kew in Surrey reveals that army commanders knew about the Provisionals’ Unknowns unit as early as April 1972. The British military document was published on Sunday on thebrokenelbow.com, a website run by a leading expert on the IRA, Ed Moloney. Photograph: Niall Carson/PAMoloney told the Guardian this suggested many in the British army had known about the Unknowns from an early stage. He said he had been part of the north Belfast unit of the Unknowns, which comprised two cells, the other being in west Belfast.

Source: The Guardian April 01, 2018 17:37 UTC