Dissident republicans have been blamed for the killing of a former loyalist paramilitary prisoner who was shot dead outside his Catholic girlfriend's home in Strabane, Co Tyrone, on Monday night.
Mr Charles Folliard (30), from Douglas Bridge just outside Strabane, was sitting in his car in Oakland Park, Strabane, at 11.30 p.m. when two masked gunmen approached. They pushed Mr Folliard's 16-year-old girlfriend, who was standing close to the driver's door, out of the way before one of the gunmen fired three shots at the vehicle.
He then moved to the front of the car, firing another three shots at the victim. Mr Folliard was hit in the head and leg. He was taken to Derry's Altnagelvin Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mr Folliard was sentenced to 14 years in prison in 1991 for conspiracy to murder a Catholic work colleague as well as for possession of firearms. His family yesterday strenuously denied that he still had any loyalist paramilitary connections.
The RUC commander for Strabane, Supt Clifford Best, described the killing as a "cold and brutal execution". A sectarian motive was one of the lines of inquiry his officers were following, he added.
"We believe paramilitaries were behind this murder and we are confident that republican terrorists were involved. A sectarian motive is one of the avenues we are looking at."
The Sinn FΘin MP for the area, Mr Pat Doherty, vehemently denied that the Provisional IRA could be responsible for the killing, describing the perpetrators as "enemies of the peace process".
"I am confident the IRA cessation remains intact. Whoever carried it out were enemies of the peace process and the current developments (the IRA's decommissioning move). Those responsible are besmirching the name of republicanism."
The North's security minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, said: "Yet another family has been left devastated by these callous gunmen who bring nothing but heartbreak and misery to the people of Northern Ireland."
An Ulster Unionist MLA for Strabane, Mr Derek Hussey, said Mr Folliard's death had to raise questions about republicans' commitment to the peace process. "There is a suspicion that it has been carried out by republicans, so it seems there is some concern that republicans are having difficulty with the developments that have taken place politically," he added.
People in Strabane were at a loss to understand why this "senseless killing" had taken place, a local SDLP MLA, Mr Eugene McMenamin, said. "One would have thought with decommissioning happening last weekend this would cease"
The Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Derry, Dr Francis Lagan, called on Catholics in Strabane to show their Protestant neighbours that Mr Folliard's killing was "not carried out in their name or with their blessing".