BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Suspected IRA gunmen shot and killed a police inspector at his home in Northern Ireland in the second killing by Irish extremists this year, authorities said Tuesday.
Inspector Derek Monteith, 35, died when an unknown number of gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons Monday night through a glass door at his home in Armagh, 45 miles west of Belfast.
His wife and three sons, aged 12, 10 and 7, were also in the house, but were not hurt. Monteith had gone into the kitchen to make coffee for his wife and died instantly when he was shot by gunmen hiding in his back garden.
Monteith was unarmed and was killed without warning, police said.
Police blamed the killing on the outlawed Irish Republican Army, and said that Monteith became the 267th police officer to be killed by the IRA since it started its campaign of violence against British rule in Northern Ireland 21 years ago. A total of 2,780 people have died in the so-called 'troubles.'
In Belfast Tuesday, a 25-pound bomb exploded outside a building in the city center but no one was hurt.
Meanwhile, renewed attempts to start talks between hard-line Protestant Ulster Unionist politicians and their counterparts in the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, Republic of Ireland have failed.
Irish Prime Minister Charles Haughey has offered to discuss with Unionists ways of finding an alternative to the Anglo-Irish agreement, a pact agreed between the Irish and British governments in 1985, giving the Irish government a consultative say in the affairs of Northern Ireland.
The Unionists have refused to recognize the agreement.
They are highly suspicious of Britain's motives for the pact. They claim it is undemocratic and was put in place without consent from Northern Ireland itself. They have refused to talk to Irish politicians about an alternative structure until the Anglo-Irish agreement is suspended.
The killing Monday night took place only 200 yards from the home of John Taylor, a politician from the Protestant Ulster Unionist party, which supports the union of Northern Ireland and Great Britain within the United Kingdom.
'This is not going to get anyone anywhere,' Taylor said. 'All they (IRA) are doing is creating unhappiness, and it's even more shocking when it happens right beside your house.'
Taylor survived a murder attempt by the IRA in Armagh in 1972.
Armagh's Member of Parliament, Seamus Mallon, said, 'These killers should get no protection. Every effort must be made to end the violence. It's futile.'
