Searches in murder inquiry

The search for Mr Kelly ended a week before his body surfaced

Detectives have searched homes of former Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers as part of a fresh investigation into the 1974 murder of a nationalist councillor in County Tyrone.

Patrick Kelly, 33, went missing after locking up a bar in Trillick, County Tyrone, on 24 July 1974.

His body was found three weeks later, 10 miles away in Lough Eyes in Fermanagh. He had been shot several times and his body had been weighted down.

The loyalist paramilitary Ulster Freedom Fighters admitted the murder.

A new police investigation into the murder 29 years ago was announced last month.

Police had been under pressure to launch a fresh investigation amid claims of collusion between the killers and the security forces in the murder.

On Thursday, detectives said they had been asking former UDR members about their movements at the time of the murder.

A spokesman said: "This is a normal course of events and nothing adverse should be read into it."

Blood stains

Mr Kelly, a councillor on Omagh District Council, was shot on the Badoney Road as he drove to his home at Golan.

That same night blood stains, shirt buttons and cartridge cases were found on the roadside a mile from Trillick, where it is believed he met his killers.

A major search was launched after the roadside discoveries, but it was called off a week before Mr Kelly's body floated to the surface of the lake.

Mr Kelly's family said last month they did not believe a new investigation would uncover the truth about the killing.