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Relative of Sinn Fein leader killed in Belfast

Pro-British group claims responsibility

January 11, 1998
Web posted at: 1:34 p.m. EST (1834 GMT)

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Protestant extremists have claimed responsibility for killing a relative of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams during a shooting outside a Belfast nightclub late Saturday.

The murder, a potential blow to the peace process, comes as Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), and pro-British factions are to resume all-party peace talks on Monday.

The hard-line Loyalist Volunteer Force, a pro-British guerrilla group, claimed responsibility Sunday for killing Terry Enwright, a 28-year-old Catholic who is married to Adams' niece, Deirdre Enwright. Enwright was working as a part-time bouncer at The Space nightclub, where the shooting happened.

In a statement released to news media, the LVF said the shooting was in direct response for the recent Maze prison murder of its leader, Billy Wright. "The Loyalist Volunteer Force is not against peace, but not peace at any price," the statement said.

"We know it was a drive-by shooting," said club owner David Ervine. "It would seem that the Loyalist Volunteer Force are intent on killing Catholic doormen."

Ervine also represents the outlawed pro-British Ulster Volunteer Force in peace negotiations. His party was to decide Sunday whether to rejoin the negotiations.

Ervine, who spent eight years in prison after being caught with explosives, has argued that no Protestant group should resume its campaign of terror against the province's Catholics.

"I have a feeling of awful foreboding that there are people out there so determined to damage me that they will take an innocent life," Ervine said.

Adams, who was shot five times by Protestant extremists in 1984, has not commented on the killing. But Sinn Fein's chief negotiator, Martin McGuinness, blamed a "Loyalist death squad."

"The tragedy of all this is that we are seeing within the talks process unionists refusing to negotiate, whilst outside the talks process Catholics are being murdered," McGuinness told Great Britain's Sky television.

Enwright-Adams connection not well known

Adams was reportedly comforting his niece and her two young children at their home in west Belfast, where Enwright was a community youth worker.

Press aide Richard McAuley said few people would have known the Adams-Enwright connection. But, he added, it appeared the gunmen opened fire on all nightclub's bouncers, who were all Catholic.

Adams

The Loyalist Volunteer Force has been in an uproar since gunmen from a splintered faction of the IRA killed the suspected Loyalist leader last month. The assassination took place inside the top-security Maze prison, about 12 miles south of Belfast.

Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam made an unprecedented trip to the Maze on Friday to persuade Protestant terrorists imprisoned at the facility to renew their support for the peace process.

Meanwhile, from Tokyo, British Prime Minister Tony Blair cautioned that the dissidents responsible for the violence should not be allowed to determine the pace of the peace process.

"We cannot get into a situation where, if people are committing murders, then that means somehow you damage the underlying process itself," Blair said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Imprisoned extremists commit to N. Ireland peace process - January 9, 1998
• 'King Rat,' security guard buried in Northern Ireland - December 30, 1997
• 'King Rat,' security guard buried in Northern Ireland - December 30, 1997
• N. Ireland tense as funerals held - December 30, 1997
• Protestant group admits retaliation for Wright's killing - December 28, 1997

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Sinn Fein - official party page; includes documents, press releases, and party objectives
• The Irish News and Belfast Morning News - Northern Ireland's largest morning newspaper
• ITN Special Report: Peace at Last?
• Ulster Democratic Unionist Party Home Page
• The Irish Times Home Page
• Royal Ulster Constabulary
• Northern Ireland Information Centre
• Northern Ireland Government Home Page
• The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland
• Northern Ireland: Frameworks for the Future

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

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