February 08, 2016•Update: February 09, 2016
By Michael Sercan Daventry
LONDON
Dissident Irish republicans have claimed responsibility for a shooting at a Dublin boxing match weigh-in that killed one man and injured two others.
The attack was claimed by a man who said he was speaking on behalf of the Continuity IRA (CIRA), a small paramilitary splinter of the wider organization that fought for a united Ireland for much of the 20th century.
Last Friday’s boxing weigh-in at a Dublin hotel was being watched by journalists and families with children when disguised gunmen carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles opened fire, killing 33-year-old David Byrne and injuring two others.
Mobile phone footage of the incident showed panic as people fell to the hotel ballroom floor and others attempted to flee as the shots were heard.
Irish police had initially said it was the result of a feud between drugs gangs.
But the purported CIRA statement, broadcast by the BBC, claimed responsibility and alleged Byrne was responsible for killing a member of a rival IRA faction in 2012.
“This will not be an isolated incident. CIRA units have been authorized to carry out further operations. More drug dealers and criminals will be targeted. CIRA will carry out further military operations,” the statement read.
It added that the group had been retraining and re-arming itself in recent years.
The IRA divided into separate, competing paramilitary groups in recent decades over differences on how to achieve a united Ireland independent from the United Kingdom.
Two of the groups, CIRA and the Real IRA, continue to carry out occasional extra-judicial killings of rival members.
A U.K. government review last year found a third branch, the Provisional IRA, continues to operate a command structure.
Britain and the United States consider all three branches to be terrorist organizations.
