Former IRA leader murdered in Belfast

Police in Northern Ireland are investigating the murder of a former senior member of the IRA on a Belfast street in one of the most high-profile killings in the city for several years.

Gerard "Jock" Davison was shot several times on Tuesday near a community centre where he worked in the Markets, a nationalist part of the centre of the city. He was a commander in the IRA during the 1980s, and was linked to a notorious murder case a decade ago that exposed rifts at the top of the organisation.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the murder of Mr Davison was "not sectarian" and was not the work of dissident republicans, despite a marked increase in dissident activity in Northern Ireland in recent months.

The murder was condemned by Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the former political wing of the IRA, and other leading republican figures in Northern Ireland. They appealed for anybody with information to contact the PSNI.

Mr Davison, 47, had been working as a volunteer at a community centre and was walking to work when he was attacked. Alex Maskey, a Sinn Fein member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, described him as "a longstanding republican and community worker".

Mr Davison was present at an incident in a Belfast bar in 2005 that led to the death of Robert McCartney, a case that acquired an international dimension when the victim's sisters blamed the IRA for his murder. Mr Davison denied any involvement. His uncle was later acquitted of murdering Mr McCartney.

As police searched for a motive for Mr Davison's murder, Justyn Galloway, a detective chief inspector in the PSNI, said: "Many people in Northern Ireland have a past, but that is in the past. There is no justification for such a shooting on the streets of Belfast today."

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