Real IRA member gets traditional funeral

STRABANE, Northern Ireland, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A member of a dissident Irish nationalist group who allegedly took his own life in police custody was buried Thursday after a traditional salute.

Four masked men in combat uniforms fired three shots over John Brady's coffin outside his home in Strabane, Northern Ireland, The Guardian reported. A Real IRA commander shouted orders to the squad in Irish as a crowd of several hundred mourners cheered.

A police helicopter overhead monitored the funeral.

Brady, 40, was sentenced to life in prison for killing a police officer in 1989 and released in 1998 after the Good Friday Agreement. The longtime militant rejected the peace process, joined the Real IRA and was re-imprisoned five years after his release for a parole violation.

Investigators say Brady was in custody at a police station on Saturday when he killed himself. He was on a weekend pass from prison but had been picked up on an assault charge and faced the possibility of return to prison with loss of privileges.