Policeman killed in N. Ireland

A police officer was shot dead in Northern Ireland late on Monday, the third killing in as many days, raising fears of a return of sectarian violence in the British province.

The officer was shot dead when he was out on patrol in Craigavon, 25 miles (40 km) southwest of the Northern Ireland capital Belfast, police said.

The shooting followed the killing of two British soldiers at their barracks in Northern Ireland in an attack claimed by a Republican splinter group.

People in Northern Ireland, having lived through three decades of the "Troubles" before a peace deal between Protestant and Catholic factions was signed in 1998, were fearful on Monday that a new round of killings could follow.

A senior politician said dissident Republicans, opposed to the peace process in the province, were most probably responsible for Monday's shooting, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

"We are tonight staring into the abyss and I would appeal to people to pull back," said Dolores Kelly, a member of the province's policing board and the nationalist SDLP party.

John O'Dowd, a local assembly member for the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party, said police officers were responding to a call for assistance and were entering the Lismore Manor estate, a largely Catholic area, when they were fired on from derelict ground.

"Two officers in an unmarked car were responding to a call from a member of the community for assistance," he said. "It is not clear whether it was a hoax or not."

David Simpson, a member of Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who represents Craigavon, said: "I think for those, and I have to use the word scum, that carried out the attack tonight they have absolutely nothing to offer Northern Ireland."

PEACE NEVER SHAKEN

Earlier on Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, visiting the army base in Antrim where the two soldiers were shot dead on Saturday, said: "The political process will not and can never be shaken".

The soldiers were killed at the entrance to their barracks by gunmen from the Real IRA republican splinter group, hours before they were due to fly to Afghanistan.

The IRA, which fought British rule for decades and drew support from the Roman Catholic community, and pro-British Protestant guerrilla groups agreed to ceasefires under the Good Friday peace deal in 1998.

The agreement helped to reduce sectarian violence, which had killed more than 3,600 people in Northern Ireland since the late 1960s.

The Real IRA wants an end to British rule and a united Ireland, but is shunned by the province's politicians who have put aside years of enmity to work together in a devolved national assembly.

It carried out the deadliest single bombing of the sectarian violence, in the market town of Omagh in August 1998. Twenty-nine people were killed.

While security experts question how capable the Real IRA is of launching a campaign of violence, there are fears the killings could spark a backlash from pro-British guerrillas.

Troops patrolled Northern Ireland's streets during decades of sectarian violence but stood down in 2007, leaving security in the hands of the police.

Putting them back on patrol would be divisive and antagonise Sinn Fein, handing the Real IRA, which is thought to number about 100 people, a propaganda coup.