RUC detectives last night began a murder inquiry after a man's body, wrapped in a blood-stained sheet, was found on the roadside in south Armagh.
Police are seeking to determine whether the killing was linked to the abduction of a man in his mid30s early yesterday morning at a hotel in Newry town centre. They are also trying to establish whether there is a drugs connection to the killing.
A local Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member, Mr Danny Kennedy, said he suspected the killing could not have taken place without the connivance or participation of some republican paramilitary group.
A local man made found the body at at 5 p.m. at Carrowmannon Road, near Belleeks village, on the road between Newry and Newtownhamilton. The British army and RUC immediately sealed off the area as an investigation began into the circumstances of the death.
A pathologist was called to examine the body and forensic experts were last night working at the scene. Later the body was removed to a local mortuary.
The RUC said the man was partially clothed and wrapped in a sheet. They are trying to determine whether the death is linked to the abduction of a man in a hotel car park in Newry yesterday morning.
Masked men dragged the man from the Canal Court Hotel at around 1 a.m. People who observed the abduction notified the RUC. Local sources said the man's wife was also assaulted but not taken away.
Mr Danny Kennedy, an Ulster Unionist Party Assembly member for the area, described the killing as horrendous. He believed some elements of paramilitary republicanism carried out the killing.
"Once again this area is being used as a murder ground. Whatever the circumstances, or whoever carried out this killing, it is hard not to arrive at the conclusion that it could not have happened without the knowledge of republicans."
Mr Paul Berry, a local DUP Assembly member, described the killing as "a cowardly act". His reaction was one of "disgust and anger that any person could be dealt with in such fashion". This is the third suspected paramilitary killing in the area in recent months.
