A senior Northern Ireland police officer is in critical but stable condition in a hospital after being shot by two masked men while he coached children’s soccer
LONDON — A senior Northern Ireland police officer is in critical but stable condition in a hospital after being shot by two masked men while he coached children’s soccer, authorities said Thursday.
A dissident Irish Republican Army splinter group is suspected of shooting the detective Wednesday night at a sports complex in Omagh, about 60 miles (nearly 100 kilometers) west of Belfast.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland named the wounded officer as Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell, a well-known officer who has led investigations into murders, organized crime and dissident paramilitary groups.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said Caldwell was attacked by two gunmen as he put soccer balls into the trunk of his car, accompanied by his young son.
“The investigation is at an early stage, we are keeping an open mind. There are multiple strands to that investigation,” McEwan told BBC Radio Ulster.
“The primary focus is on violent dissident republicans and within that there is a primary focus as well on New IRA.”
Politicians from across Ireland’s political divide, and the leaders of the U.K. and Ireland, condemned the attack.
More than 3,000 people were killed during three decades of violence in Northern Ireland involving Irish republican and British loyalist paramilitaries and U.K. security forces.
The 1998 Good Friday peace accord largely ended the conflict, known as “the Troubles.” Major Catholic and Protestant paramilitary groups gave up violence and disarmed, but small IRA splinter groups continue to mount sporadic attacks.
Omagh is the site of Northern Ireland’s deadliest attack, an August 1998 car bombing that killed 29 people. A dissident republican group called the Real IRA claimed responsibility for that attack.
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