The "Real IRA" leadership last night claimed that Joe O'Connor who was shot dead in west Belfast on Friday was one of it members. It said it knew the identity of his killers who would be "dealt with accordingly".
No organisation had admitted responsibility yesterday, but his family and locals were blaming the Provisional IRA. In a statement the "Real IRA" said it had not been its desire to engage in conflict with the Provisionals but added: " Our volunteers will be protected and at a time and place of our choosing, those guilty of this offence will be dealt with accordingly. This is not an idle threat and should not be treated as such. Nor should it be interpreted as a signal for all out indiscriminate attacks on innocent republicans loyal to the Provo leadership."
In an earlier statement to The Irish Times, a "Real IRA" spokesman said Mr O'Connor was a member of Oglaigh na hEireann, the name the "Real IRA" uses to describe itself.
Sinn Fein councillor Mr Michael Browne said there was no basis for allegations of Provisional IRA involvement.
He said there was speculation the killing was the result of a dissident feud. Continuity IRA sources denied involvement and condemned the killing.
The Provisional IRA has so far not released a statement.
Denis Coghlan, Chief Political Correspondent, writes: The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has anticipated a crackdown on dissident republicans and insisted every effort will be made by the Government to apprehend and lock away those responsible for the Omagh bombing.
Speaking at a Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown yesterday, Mr Ahern delivered a scathing attack on the "Real IRA" which, he said, was "indelibly disgraced and should be dissolved". The Government would act in the spirit that de Valera had to act and "leave the law deal with them". It would not be al lowed to ruin the lives of innocent citizens because, in its con tempt for others, it was only capable of uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter in death.
Those responsible for the Omagh bombing had no right to describe themselves as republicans, Mr Ahern said; they were defying the will of the sovereign peo ple. In the same way, the apparent conciliatory intent of Republican Sinn Fein's Eire Nua proposals could not be taken seriously while there was "continued involvement in armed struggle by the Continuity IRA in defiance of the clearly and freely expressed will of the Irish people in the referendums of May 1998".
The new political institutions created under the Belfast Agreement could only work through partnership and consent, and this applied in particular to policing. The police service which developed out of the current British legislation had to be capable of achieving the objectives of the agreement, aligned with what was set out by the Patten report.
A 21-year-old man is recovering after being injured in a so-called punishment attack in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim.