Shot drug dealer 'on IRA hit list'

Shot drug dealer 'on IRA hit list'

A known drug dealer was killed in Belfast yesterday amid claims that he was on an IRA hit list.

Antonio Martin Kane, 29, was shot in the head as he sat behind the wheel of his car moments after attending the funeral of a friend in republican west Belfast.

No one claimed responsibility for the latest killing but the human rights group Families Against Intimidation and Terror said Mr Kane was one of six or seven people on an IRA hit-list of drug dealers it had seen.

The RUC said it did not see the murder as a breach of the ceasefire but FAIT said Sinn Fein should be the shooting was a clear breach and Sinn Fein should be pressured into stopping the killings.

The Democratic Unionist Party said the killing was a "timely reminder" of the true nature of the IRA.