According to journalist Ed Moloney, the IRA Army Council, suspecting a great deal of penetration by informers at the grassroots level of the organisation, decided to form an experimental flying column (instead of the usual active service unit) to mount a large-scale operation against a permanent vehicle checkpoint along the border. The goal was to find an effective way to prevent any information leak that could result in another fiasco like the Loughgall Ambush in 1987.