Soldier murdered 30 years ago in Crossmaglen remembered by victims campaigner

The 30th anniversary of the last soldier murdered in Crossmaglen has been remembered by a victims campaigner.

Daniel Blinco, a Grenadier Guardsman, was murdered on December 30, 1993. He had been on a foot patrol when he was shot by a sniper.

His death was the first in Northern Ireland after the Downing Street Declaration was issued two weeks earlier by the then Prime Minister, John Major, and former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds.

Kenny Donaldson, of victims group South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) Director and who comes from Crossmaglen, said the anniversary marked a “milestone” in the area.

Daniel Blinco's patch on the 'Terrorism Knows No Borders' quilt.

“I was present in the village that day with my father and we were in close proximity to where Danny was murdered - at the corner of Murtagh’s pub. I was aged 13,” he said.

“He was murdered just two weeks after John Major and Albert Reynolds signed the Downing Street Declaration, a political pathway was in motion but the bloodthirsty Provisionals saw fit to extinguish Danny’s life and so many overs beyond that point intermittently over the next two decades.

"It is important that young men like Danny are remembered, their contribution should never be forgotten," concluded Mr Donaldson.

Daniel Blinco is remembered on SEFF’s memorial quilt, entitled ‘Terrorism Knows No Borders’.