A senior PSNI officer has addressed the 'confusing' speculation over who was involved in the shooting of DCI John Caldwell in Omagh, with police insisting the New IRA are responsible.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan told the Policing Board on Thursday that police were aware of rumours, after it was reported four men arrested over the shooting were from a Protestant background.
"We know there is some speculation about the motivation behind the shooting incident because of the community backgrounds of some of the people who have been arrested," he said.
Read more: The New IRA: The dissident republican group linked with murders
"The individuals who people are speculating about are involved in criminality, they have quite strong and long associations with violent dissident republicans, namely members of the New IRA.
"We are very clear that this is still assessed as being an attack carried out by the new IRA, and that's where the primary focus of the investigation is at this point and it is not related to some of the other speculation we've seen today."
Sinn Féin's board member Gerry Kelly then pressed ACC McEwan on whether anyone from a loyalist background had been linked to the sinister attempted murder.
"We shouldn't be confused with titles like loyalism, these are people who are involved in criminality, they have strong links to members of the New IRA," said ACC McEwan.
"Those are longstanding links.
"They have been arrested because we suspect they have been involved in this.
"We still assess that this has been an attack carried out by the New IRA, who have very explicitly stated that they wish to carry out attacks on police officers and John has been the target in this case."
Mr Caldwell was shot several times in Omagh last Wednesday night and is still critically ill in hospital.
So far in the investigation, seven men have been arrested, with police still questioning three of those and the others all released.
Chief Constable Simon Byrne thanked board members and the public for their messages of support, which he said had been relayed to the immediate family of Mr Caldwell.
He said: “We have made numerous arrests.
“I’ve been out myself three times to Omagh for various reasons to see first hand what is going on and to see John’s family, and to give them every support.
“It has been quite tremendous the effort that has gone into the determination to catch the people who did this, both from those investigators who are dealing with the immediate aftermath, the crime scene investigators who help us piece together the evidence bit by bit, and also the determination of colleagues from across the country, many of whom knew John, to do their bit.
“We have had messages from all over the world extending people’s thoughts to us and John’s family.
“He remains critically ill in hospital, but he is in good care.
“We are ensuring that his wife and son have every possible support from the organisation.”
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