Woman Killed In Shooting In Northern Ireland's Derry Worked As Journalist - Police

The police of Northern Ireland disclosed the name of the woman killed as a result of shooting in the city of Derry, noting that Lyra McKee, 29 worked as a journalist in Belfast.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th April, 2019) The police of Northern Ireland disclosed the name of the woman killed as a result of shooting in the city of Derry, noting that Lyra McKee, 29 worked as a journalist in Belfast.

Overnight, the police said that one woman was killed after shots were fired and petrol bombs were thrown in the city of Derry, adding they are treating the shooting as a "terrorist incident."

"A single gunman fired shots in a residential area of the city and as a result wounded Ms McKee. Officers quickly administered first aid before transporting her in the back of a landrover to hospital. Tragically she died from her injuries. At this stage we believe her murder was carried out by a violent dissident republican. Our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of Ms McKee, who was a journalist based in Belfast," Assistant Chief Constable for District Policing Mark Hamilton said as quoted in the press release.

According to Irish News, McKee collaborated with Atlantic magazine and BuzzFeed portal. Other media reports said that she was also an editor of the Mediagazer news site in Belfast and a rising star in investigative journalism.

Hamilton noted that the Irish Republican Army (New IRA), a local republican revolutionary paramilitary organization, is most likely to be responsible for the attack.

The New IRA is a nationalist group protesting the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that put an end to the nearly 30-year period of violence and terrorist attacks in Northern Ireland. Over the past few years, the New IRA has carried out several terrorist attacks in the region. In particular, on February 22, 2017, its militants attempted to blow up a police car in Derry. In the 1970s and 1990s, clashes between local Catholics and Protestants occurred in Northern Ireland, accompanied by terrorist attacks. The attacks also occurred in the 2010s.