Northern Ireland prison guard slain in gun ambush

[November 01, 2012]  BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) -- Authorities say a prison officer has been killed in a gun ambush as he was driving to work on Northern Ireland's major highway.

Police say they aren't certain yet whether the victim was killed by gunfire or after his car crashed into fencing on the M1 motorway southwest of Belfast. They say the victim's car was hit by several bullets.

Police found the attackers' suspected getaway car burned out in the nearby town of Lurgan, a power base for Irish Republican Army factions opposed to Northern Ireland's peace process.

Thursday's attack would be the first killing of a member of Northern Ireland's security forces since April 2011, when an IRA splinter group used an under-car booby-trap bomb to kill a policeman outside his home.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.