MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd April, 2019) The New Irish Republican Army (New IRA) paramilitary organization has claimed responsibility for the murder of freelance journalist Lyra McKee during the terror attack in the city of Londonderry in Northern Ireland earlier in April, local media reported, citing the organization's statement.
On April 18, the police said that one woman was killed after shots were fired and gasoline bombs were thrown in Londonderry, and added that it was treating the shooting as a terrorist incident, most likely carried out by the New IRA. Local police later disclosed the name of the killed woman, noting that McKee, 29, worked as a journalist in Belfast.
"In the course of attacking the enemy Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces. The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death," the New IRA said in the statement for The Irish News.
The group also accused the police of Northern Ireland of "provoking" riots, which resulted in the journalist's death.
"We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this," the statement added.
Last week, the news outlet said that McKee collaborated with Atlantic magazine and BuzzFeed portal. Other media reports said that she was also an editor of the Mediagazer news site in Belfast and a rising star in investigative journalism.
In 2015, a report on the situation in Northern Ireland, requested by the UK government and conducted by the police and counterintelligence service MI5, was published. The report, in particular, said that that the governing body of the Irish Republican Army also known as Provisional Irish Republican Army, a terrorist organization that carried out dozens of terrorist acts in the United Kingdom and declared its disarmament in 2005, still exists, as well as the governing bodies of other militarized groups, albeit in a substantially reduced form. The group believes that all of Ireland should be an independent republic from the UK rule.
