The New IRA is the biggest of the dissident republican groups operating in Northern Ireland.

It has been linked with four murders including the shooting of journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry on Thursday night.

The other murders include Pc Ronan Kerr, who was killed by an under-car bomb in Omagh in 2011.

The group is also linked to the deaths of prison officers David Black, who was shot as he drove to work at Maghaberry Prison in 2012, and Adrian Ismay, who died in 2016 after a bomb exploded under his van outside his home in east Belfast.

Ronan Kerr anniversary
Constable Ronan Kerr (Kerr family/PA)

The New IRA is believed to have been formed between 2011 and 2012 following the merger of a number of smaller groups, including the Real IRA – the group behind the 1998 Omagh bomb.

It is strongest in Derry, north and west Belfast, Strabane in Co Derry, Lurgan in Co Armagh, and pockets of Tyrone.

This year the group was responsible for a car bomb outside the courthouse in Bishop Street, Derry.

Londonderry explosion
The January car bombing outside the courthouse in Bishop Street, Londonderry (CCTV/PA)

The explosives-laden car was left on the city centre street on a Saturday night in January, and scores of people, including a group of teenagers, had walked past before it detonated.

The New IRA also claimed a number package bombs posted to targets in London and Glasgow in March.