Ulster fears return

Journo’s murder sparks worries ‘The Troubles’ will be revived

THE killing of a journalist in Londonderry marks the latest upsurge of violence in Northern Ireland – where fears are growing that a fragile and hard-won peace is at risk.

Lyra McKee, 29, was shot dead during a riot as dissident republicans clashed on Thursday with police in the province’s second city — a historic flashpoint in the three decades of violence known Troubles”.

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended the turbulence.

But dissident republicans – seeking Northern Ireland’s departure from the United Kingdom and integration into the Republic of Ireland through violent means – remain active.

Police believe the New IRA as “The splinter group McKee’s murder.

Among commentators there is a wide-held belief that the perpetrators are youngsters not old enough to remember “The Troubles”, and are being manipulated by a radical older element.

“There’s a dangerous radicalisation of young people in Derry by those linked to and is behind on the periphery of the New IRA,” wrote The Irish Times newspaper’s security correspondent Allison Morris.

Police Service of Northern Ireland detective superintendent Jason Murphy, who is leading the probe into McKee’s death, warned: “What we’re seeing is a new breed of terrorist coming through the ranks.”

There is speculation that Brexit – which has raised the spectre of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland – is acting as an irritant to dissident republicans.

Proposed divorce deals with the EU could see Northern Ireland more closely aligned to the Republic of Ireland or bound tighter to Britain, raising competing loyalist and republican visions of the future.