Two Men Arrested in Connection With Murder of Journalist Lyra McKee – Police

The journalist was killed on Thursday during a night of rioting in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry. The police said that they were treating the shooting as a terrorist incident, most likely carried out by the Irish Republican Army (New IRA) paramilitary organisation.

Northern Ireland's police announced on Saturday that two men had been arrested in connection with the murder of Lyra McKee.

Major Investigation Team detectives have arrested two men, aged 18 and 19 under the Terrorism Act, in connection with the murder of Lyra McKee in the Creggan area of Derry on Thursday, 18th April.

They have been taken to Musgrave Serious Crime Suite.

— PSNI DC&S District (@PSNIDCSDistrict) April 20, 2019

Lyra McKee (29), who worked as a journalist in Belfast, was killed Thursday night in a shootout during riots in the city of Londonderry. She was a rising star in investigative journalism, extensively covering the Northern Irish conflict, focusing on the victims of violence.

READ MORE: UK's May: Death of Journalist in Shooting in N Ireland 'Shocking, Senseless'

The police earlier stated that the Irish Republican Army (New IRA), a local republican revolutionary paramilitary organisation, was most likely responsible for the attack.

The New IRA is a nationalist group protesting the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that put an end to a 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 22 February 2017, its militants attempted to blow up a police car in Londonderry.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, clashes between local Catholics and Protestants occurred in Northern Ireland, accompanied by terrorist attacks. The attacks also sporadically occurred in the 2010s.