CIRA says it shot man linked to sword attack

The Continuity IRA has been criticised this week after it admitted it shot dead a man in west Belfast who it accused of “terrorising the community”.

The armed group, which first emerged in the 90s and has links to Republican Sinn Féin, said its northern command shot the 26-year-old Kieran McManus last Saturday.

The point-blank gun attack took place outside an outlet of the Domino’s pizza chain.

McManus, originally from Turf Lodge, had fled west Belfast three years ago after he attacked a man with a samurai sword, almost severing an arm.

The CIRA said it killed him because of his involvement in criminality and accused him of “terrorising the community with hatchets, knives and swords”.

The group also said that “any retaliation against its members would be met with extreme force”.

McManus, who was father to a five-year old son, was buried on Thursday following Requiem Mass at Holy Trinity Church in west Belfast. His mother said she believed the murder was down to a personal vendetta.

PSNI police inspector Karen Baxter said the dead man was “known to police” but “whatever Kieran did in his life, nothing justifies this action against him”.

Sinn Féin has previously called on the CIRA to disband, arguing that they are more deadly to their own nationalist community in the North than to the any enemy.

Paul Maskey, Sinn Féin MP for the area, said there was shock and anger locally.

“We are now left with a family without a son, without a brother, and I think it’s totally unacceptable and totally shocking,” he said.

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