Northern Ireland: Shooting at police officers classified as terrorism North Korea reports test of long-range cruise missiles

Northern Irish detectives have classified the shooting of a police officer in the town of Omagh as a terrorist act. The police in the British province announced this on Friday. The police officer was seriously injured in the attack. The focus of the investigation therefore still lies with the paramilitary group New IRA. There had already been four arrests in connection with the crime.

Masked men fired multiple shots at a police officer on Wednesday night as he loaded footballs into a car with his son after a practice session in the city of Omagh. The victim is in critical condition in hospital, police said. It would be a senior officer investigating paramilitary and drug-related crime.

The New IRA is a coalition of splinter groups of the paramilitary IRA (Irish Republican Army), who fought through decades of civil war to unite Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. In the late 1990s, the IRA laid down its arms and peace was made in the Good Friday Agreement. But some militants remained active, including among Protestant supporters of the union with Britain. Northern Ireland’s paramilitary groups are closely linked to organized crime.

(yam/sda/dpa)