As has been indicated earlier, it appears that the murder of the band in the way it was carried out was not pre-planned. It is believed that the idea was to use them as a way of carrying a bomb to be detonated later, which could be blamed on the IRA.

When it went off prematurely, the band members were shot on the spot, presumably because they could have been inconvenient witnesses. It was clearly a botched operation, but that proves nothing.