The ambush was carried out by the IRA's South Leitrim Brigade on a force of Black and Tans. The British suffered casualties and admitted one fatality, a captain in the Bedfordshire Regiment, although some local sources claimed several more were killed. The Black and Tans later ran amok in Carrick-on-Shannon, burning and looting. Among the premises they burned were Carrick on Shannon Rowing Club and the premises of the local newspaper, the Leitrim Observer.