Belfast Killings: Suspects Held In Republic And North

Suspects in a double murder case that took place in Belfast earlier this year have been arrested by the Gardaí, and four more have since been detained in Northern Ireland.

The first four people were held when three men and a woman were detained in Dundalk and Dublin yesterday as part of the investigation into the double killing of Joseph Jones and Edward Burns last March.

The pair were both killed during separate attacks on the same night amid tensions within dissident republicanism.

Mr Burns, who was aged 36, was shot in the head near the Falls Road, while Mr Jones, who was 38, was beaten to death in Ardoyne.

It is understood the pair had been drinking together before being lured into a car by men believed to be connected to the Continuity IRA.

The Independent Monitoring Commission has claimed the Continuity IRA killed the men because they established a rival group.

Meanwhile, other suspects have also detained in Belfast following the southern arrests, which Gardaí said were made as part of an ongoing cross-border inquiry in co-operation with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Three men and a women are now being quizzed in the North after they were arrested in north Belfast and are being held at the Serious Crime Suite at Antrim Police Station.

(BMcC)