The SAS ambush in Loughgall resulted in the single largest loss of life for the IRA during the Troubles.
All those who died were members of the organisation's 'east Tyrone brigade'.
Seasoned members of the elite unit killed at Loughgall included Patrick Kelly, who was the IRA's commander in the area at the time.
The same IRA team is believed to have been behind similar attacks on two other RUC stations - Ballygawley in Co Tyrone in December 1985 and the Birches in Co Armagh in August 1986.
They were ambushed as they smashed through the gates of Loughgall police station and detonated a 200lb bomb loaded into the bucket of a digger.
Other IRA members in a nearby Toyota van also came under fire from members of the SAS who had dug in around the police station.
Unknown to the IRA, authorities knew about their plan in advance and had evacuated the police station while the British army had set up several firing points.
The families of those killed believe their loved ones died as part of a deliberate shoot- to-kill policy and were not given an opportunity to surrender.
The IRA members who died at Loughgall were: Patrick Kelly (32), Declan Arthurs (21), Seamus Donnelly (19), Michael Gormley (25), Eugene Kelly (25), James Lynagh (32), Padraig McKearney (32), and Gerard O'Callaghan (29).
* AMBUSH: Police at the scene of the explosion and shooting in Loughgall (above left); the barracks destroyed by the IRA bomb (bottom left) and the eight IRA men who were killed by the SAS (right)
PICTURE: Pacemaker