Politicians from both sides of Northern Ireland's political community say the murder of a Catholic man in Belfast was a sectarian killing designed to wreck the peace process.

Brian Service ,who was described by his family as having no paramilitary or criminal connections, was shot dead in north Belfast just after midnight on Saturday.

His killing has been linked to the deadline for agreement on a new cross-border authority with the Irish Republic, which was specified in the April peace accord.

Progress in that was blocked by disagreements over the decommissioning of IRA weapons in talks on Friday.