2 More Killed Before Talks on Northern Ireland Open
BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Suspected Protestant extremists gunned down two Catholic brothers near Belfast, continuing a wave of vengeful killings and adding extra urgency to key Anglo-Irish talks Friday.
The British and Irish prime ministers, John Major and Albert Reynolds, were to meet in Brussels to discuss new Dublin peace proposals which have brought the only ray of hope to Northern Ireland during a week in which 17 people have died.
The brothers, 18 and 22, were killed watching television Thursday in their cottage in Bleary, a hamlet about 25 miles southwest of Belfast.
Police said at least two masked men walked in through an open door, past the victims’ 11-year-old sister in the kitchen, and shot the brothers dead in the living room before walking calmly out again.
“It’s another part of this horrific cycle of violence,†said Britain’s Northern Ireland minister, Michael Ancram. “It is a barbaric madness that advances nothing but death after death after death.â€
Protestant gunmen have gone on the rampage since a bungled IRA bomb a week ago blew up the bomber and nine shoppers rather than the extremist leaders it was meant for.
Vowing revenge, they have now killed six Catholics--the brothers, two workmen, a pensioner and a fast-food delivery man.
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