IRA 'behind pub murder'

The victim had been in a pub

The chief constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary has said there are indications the IRA, which is currently on ceasefire, was behind a pub murder last month.

Edmund McCoy, 28, died in hospital after being shot in the Motte 'n' Bailey bar in Dunmurry, near Belfast at the end of May.

Two men wearing disguises entered the bar, singled out their victim who had been drinking with friends, and shot him a number of times.

Mr McCoy, who was single, died after emergency surgery at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

It was thought the main line of inquiry being followed by police was that the killing had been drugs-related.

Sir Ronnie Flanagan: Comment on murder

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, RUC Chief Constable Sir Ronnie Flanagan said: "We certainly have not excluded the Provisional IRA and there are certain intelligence indications that that is the organisation responsible.

"But it's too soon to be definitive in any sense."

Sir Ronnie had been under pressure to make a public statement after senior security sources told the BBC that the IRA was responsible for the murder.

He said he had briefed Secretary of State Peter Mandelson "on the circumstances."

Council meeting

Mr Mandelson has made it clear in the past, that if any organisation on ceasefire was found to be involved in Mr McCoy's murder, it would have a direct impact on his assessment of the ceasefire and therefore early prisoner releases under the Good Friday Agreement.

The shooting happened 24 hours after the Ulster Unionist ruling council voted by a narrow majority to return to government with Sinn Fein.

At the time, the RUC said Mr McCoy had been "known to police".

The killing happened in a mixed Roman Catholic and Protestant area and close to the local police station.

Following the killing, Ulster Unionist Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson, in whose constituency the shooting occurred, said that Dunmurry had endured a "high level of tension for some time".

He added: "If it is drugs-related, there may be a paramilitary link in terms of the increasing activities of paramilitaries in the drugs trade as they spread their criminality throughout the province."