IRA dissidents suspected of shooting N Ireland detective

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — A senior Northern Ireland police officer is in critical but stable condition in a hospital after being shot by two masked men while he coached children’s soccer. Police said Thursday that a dissident Irish Republican Army splinter group is suspected of shooting the detective at a sports complex in the town of Omagh on Wednesday night. The Police Service of Northern Ireland named the wounded officer as Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell. The police force said Caldwell was attacked by two gunmen as he put soccer balls into the trunk of his car accompanied by his young son. Small IRA splinter groups continue to mount sporadic attacks 25 years after the end of large-scale violence in Northern Ireland.