This is a timeline of actions by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), a loyalist paramilitary group formed in 1971. Most of these actions took place during the conflict known as "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. The UDA's declared goal was to defend Loyalist areas from attack and to combat Irish republican paramilitaries. However, most of its victims were Irish Catholic civilians, who were often chosen at random.
It used the name Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) when it wished to claim responsibility for its attacks and avoid political embarrassment, as the UDA was a legal organisation for much of its history. The UFF usually claimed that those targeted were Provisional Irish Republican Army members or IRA sympathizers. Other times, attacks on Catholic civilians were claimed as "retaliation" for IRA actions, since the IRA drew most of its support from Catholics. Such retaliation was seen as both collective punishment and an attempt to weaken the IRA's support. However, during 1972 the organisation openly claimed responsibility for several gun and bomb attacks using the UDA title.
1970s
1971
September: the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was formed from various loyalist "defence groups" in Belfast.
1972
January–June
20 April: UDA members walked into a taxi depot on Clifton Street in Belfast and asked for a taxi to Ardoyne. From the location of the depot and the stated destination, they could be sure their driver was a Catholic. They forced the driver (Gerard Donnelly, aged 22) to stop at Harrybrook Street, where they killed him with a shot in the head. 4 May: a Catholic civilian (Victor Andrews, aged 20) was found stabbed to death in an entry off Baltic Avenue, New Lodge, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible. 14 May: a Catholic civilian (Gerard McCusker, aged 24) was found beaten and shot dead on waste ground at Hopeton Street, Shankill Road, Belfast. It is believed the UDA was responsible. 17 May: the UDA kidnapped a Catholic civilian (Bernard Moane, aged 46) from a pub on the Shankill Road in Belfast. They took him to Knockagh War Memorial near Greenisland, County Antrim, and shot him to death. 23 May: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Andrew Brennan, aged 22) at his home on Sicily Park, Finaghy, Belfast. 10 June: the UDA carried out a drive-by shooting on a group of Catholic teenagers in Belfast. a Catholic civilian (Marian Brown, aged 17) was killed and a number of others wounded as they stood on the corner of Roden Street and Grosvenor Road. The British Army were on patrol when they exchanged shots with a gunman in the car, who was wielding a Thompson submachine gun. 11 June: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (John Madden, aged 43) as he swept the footpath outside his shop on Oldpark Road, Belfast. 16 June: the UDA shot dead a Catholic civilian (Charles Connor, aged 32) at Minnowburn, Shaw's Bridge, Belfast. 24 June: a UDA paramilitary (John Brown, aged 29), was found shot near his home, Blackmountain Parade, Springmartin, Belfast. He had been killed in an internal Ulster Defence Association dispute. 26 June: a UDA volunteer (John Black, aged 32) was shot by the British Army at a barricade in Douglas Street, off Beersbridge Road, Belfast during street disturbances. He died five weeks later. 27 June: a UDA volunteer (William Galloway, aged 18) was shot dead by an unknown republican group in Edlingham Street, Tiger's Bay, Belfast during street disturbances. 30 June: the UDA began to set up "no-go areas" (urban areas which were entirely controlled by the group and blocked off by barricades). UDA members stopped and questioned people at these barricades and a number of them were killed, usually when they were found to be Catholic.