IRA splinter group claims responsibility for police shooting

LONDON (AP) — Police in Northern Ireland say they were reviewing an unverified statement by an Irish Republican Army splinter group claiming responsibility for the shooting of a senior police officer. A statement purportedly from the dissident group known as the New IRA appeared on a wall in Londonderry late Sunday, claiming it was responsible for Wednesday’s attack on Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell. Two masked men shot Caldwell in front of his young son after the off-duty officer coached a children’s soccer team in Omagh, west of Belfast. Caldwell remains in critical condition in hospital. Police said last week they were treating the attempted murder of Caldwell as terrorism-related, and that the New IRA was its primary line of enquiry.