IRA rebels ‘ behind boxing match killing’
An IRA splinter group has claimed responsibility for shooting dead a gangster at a weigh-in for a boxing match.
David Byrne, 33, was killed by a squad of six hitmen who stormed the event wearing SWAT police uniforms and armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
Another gunman, who was dressed as a woman, was photographed pulling off his wig as he ran from the Dublin hotel shooting.
In a statement to the BBC in Belfast, the Continuity IRA said it ordered the killing of Byrne as a reprisal for the death of Real IRA
‘Dressed as a woman’
leader Alan Ryan in Dublin in September 2012.
The terrorist faction has been involved in extorting vast sums of money from drug dealers in the Republic and claimed other criminals were on its hit list.
About 300 people were at the Regency Hotel in the Whitehall area of the city when the killers struck on Friday. The weigh-in was for the ‘Clash of the Clans’ between Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio Joao Bento.
Two men were injured in the shooting and a number of bystanders threatened. The fight was called off. The Continuity IRA statement claimed the terrorist faction had been retraining and re-arming.
Referring to the murder of Mr Ryan, a CIRA spokesman said: ‘This will not be an isolated incident. Continuity IRA units have been authorised to carry out further operations. More drug dealers and criminals will be targeted.’
Police have set up armed checkpoints in Dublin because of fears of retaliation for the attack. A Garda spokesman said they were ‘keeping an open mind in relation to the criminal groups involved’.
Yesterday, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said: ‘ It was a brazen attack in broad daylight by criminal thugs who believe they can operate with impunity and above the normal rule of law. They should be locked up, where they belong.’
The Continuity IRA is one of a number of renegade factions that became active after the Provisional IRA called an end to its armed campaign. It was behind the 2009 murder of police officer Stephen Carroll in Craigavon, Co Armagh.
Ambushed as he responded to a 999 call, the constable was the first member of the Police Service of Northern Ireland to be murdered by terrorists. The Real IRA are also involved in crime and extortion.