An IRA man shot dead during a row in south Armagh was murdered by degenerate criminals masquerading as republicans, a top republican said today. But at the funeral of Keith Rogers (24) he cautioned the border cimmunity against seeking revenge.
Giving the graveside oration on behalf of the republican leadership, Mr Brian Keenan branded the murder as "treachery".
He said lies had been told about what happened in the south Armagh border village of Cullaville on Wednesday morning.
Mr Rogers, from Hackballscross, Co Louth, was shot dead and two other men injured when a row broke out on a petrol station forecourt.
There have been claims that the killing was the result of a dispute over land. But Mr Keenan dismissed the idea. "This was not a dispute between gangs. This was a case of IRA volunteers being fired on by criminals."
One man who went to the police accompanied by his solicitor in the wake of the shooting has been released on police bail after questioning, police said today.
Mr Keenan told hundreds of mourners at the hilltop cemetery at the church of the Sacred Heart in Shelagh, 200 yards south of the border that those responsible for the killing were "a band of vermin" who had dirtied and sullied the republican cause for which Keith Rogers had given his life.
But the veteran republican insisted "it is not the time now for any thoughts of revenge, the republican movement will no doubt make their position very clear.
"Those responsible for the murder abused the society in which they lived," he said.
The IRA volunteer's coffin, draped in the tricolour, was carried the short distance from his parents' home through the country lanes to the church preceded by a lone piper.
During requiem mass Father Peter Clarke branded the killing "shameful" and added his voice to the calls for no retaliation.
"Retribution and revenge achieves nothing, nothing but further heartache and remorse.
"We have had 30 years of conflict in our country and we have to accept they are over once and for all along with all their baggage."
He said angry people had to keep themselves in check with self-control.
With most of the Sinn Fein leadership in America for the St Patrick's Day celebrations and yesterday's meetings with the Bush administration, the party was represented at the funeral by assembly member Mr Conor Murphy from Newry in Armagh and the local TD, Mr Arthur Morgan.
PA