A 17-year old will appear in court in Northern Ireland today charged with the murder of a police officer earlier this month.

Responsibility for the shooting of officer Stephen Carroll was claimed by a group known as The Continuity IRA, which wants a united Ireland and the removal of British influence in the province. Four other people remain under arrest in connection with the killing, while police have released two others. Carroll’s murder was the second attack on security forces in Northern Ireland in two days. Another group, The Real IRA, said they carried out the first, in which two British soldiers were shot dead. The attacks shocked Northern Ireland, where sectarian violence had all but disappeared since a peace deal between Protestants and Catholics in 1998. The province’s police chief has said that around 300 people remain members of splinter groups opposed to the peace process.More about: Crime, Northern Ireland

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