Derry: Police investigate New IRA bonfire shots claim

bonfire at Meenan Square was lit on Monday evening

Police are investigating claims that the New IRA was responsible for possible shots being fired during a bonfire in Londonderry on Monday.

A number of items were taken away for examination as part of the investigation in the Bogside on Wednesday.

It followed reports of loud bangs being heard at the bonfire in Meenan Square.

The Irish News reported that the New IRA claimed to have fired seven shots close to the bonfire.

The PSNI said it was "aware of the newspaper article and claim".

"This will form part of our ongoing investigation," the police statement added.

On Wednesday, Ch Insp Michael O'Loan said the firing of shots would be "an act that would be beyond reckless when so many people were present".

Bonfires on 15 August are traditional in some nationalist parts of Northern Ireland to mark the Catholic Feast of the Assumption.

To others, they are lit to commemorate the introduction of internment without trial of republican suspects, which was introduced by the government in 1971.