An event in memory of a British soldier has been organised close to where victims of a British Army ambush are buried in County Tyrone.

Four IRA Volunteers were shot dead in a shoot-to-kill massacre in the grounds of St Patrick’s Church at Clonoe, near Coalisland, in February 1992.

The Clonoe ambush involved 12 ‘elite’ undercover SAS soldiers who fired 514 rounds at the IRA unit. The soldiers were dug into hedgerows around the church building, which then went on fire after being struck by a bullet or flare.

Last year a coroner found that the killing of the young IRA Volunteers Kevin Barry O’Donnell, Sean O’Farrell, Peter Clancy, and Patrick Vincent was “not justified”.

The British Ministry of Defence is currently appealing the judgement.

Mr O’Donnell and Mr O’Farrell are buried in the grounds of St Mary and St Joseph’s Church in Brackaville, on the outskirts of Coalisland.

This week it emerged that a charity cross-country run in memory of former British soldier Kevin McCool will take place close to the graveyard later this month

McCool is a former member of the murderous Para regiment and a suspected former member of the SAS, a regiment currently threatenting legal action to prevent the reopening of investigations into their war crimes.

A native of the area and a former pupil in Dungannon, it is unclear why McCool became a mercenary for the occupying forces. He ultimately reached the rank of Major before being shot dead in Kenya two years ago.

Mr O’Donnell’s sister, Roisín Uí Mhuirí, questioned why an event commemorating the former British soldier would be held “within breathing ground of where two of these lads lie buried”.

“We have only just got through the inquest for it now to be appealed, so we are now still sitting in that limbo.

“There’s parts of us still sitting in Brackaville, in our church, at the funeral and the military might that they had, because that’s what they are doing, they are strangling us in the courts with it.”

Local councillor Dan Kerr said he has contacted the organisers “to highlight that this type of event is not welcome in Coalisland or the east Tyrone area as the SAS murdered many local republicans who paid the ultimate sacrifice for Irish freedom”.