A Sunday Worldjournalist was shot dead by a gunman close to his home in Lurgan, Co Armagh, last night
Mr Martin O'Hagan was walking home from the local pub with his wife when he was murdered.
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| Mr Martin O'Hagan |
A gunman pulled up beside him in a car in Wheatfield Gardens and shot him. He died at the scene.
The loyalist Red Hand Defenders, a cover name used in the past by the UDA and the LVF, this morning claimed responsibility for the murder.
In a call to a Belfast newsroom, the group said he had been killed for "crimes against the loyalist people".
Mr O'Hagan had been living with loyalist death threats for years and there was speculation today that the LVF may have carried out the killing.
Eight years ago, he moved to Cork after LVF leader Billy Wright - himself shot dead by the INLA inside the Maze Prison - threatened his life.Mr O'Hagan had given Wright the nickname King Rat and had written a series of exposes about the murderous activities of his gang, the Ratpack.He was a key witness in a case over the controversial Channel Four programme
The Committee
, which alleged leading members of the security forces were involved in a secret ring linked to loyalist paramilitaries.Mr O'Hagan leaves three daughters, including one engaged to be married.The RUC said today Mr O'Hagan had been killed in a drive-by shooting and they were examining a burned out car found a short distance away which may have been used by the killer.
He is the first working journalist to be murdered in the course of his duties since the Troubles began in the late 60s.