Suspected IRA dissident detained over March killing of Northern Ireland policeman

Suspected IRA dissident detained over cop killing

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Northern Ireland police have detained a 22-year-old man suspected in the dissident Irish Republican Army killing of a policeman seven months ago.

Police said Thursday they were holding the suspect at their main interrogation center west of Belfast. He can be held up to two weeks without charge under British anti-terror laws.

Three other suspected IRA dissidents already have been charged with the March 9 killing of Constable Stephen Carroll. The 48-year-old officer was shot through the back of the head as he sat in a patrol car responding to an emergency call in a Catholic part of Lurgan, southwest of Belfast.

IRA dissidents that month also killed two British soldiers collecting pizzas outside an army base.