A gang of heavily-armed dissident republicans - one carrying an RPG rocket-launcher - filmed in north Belfast

A gang of heavily-armed dissident republicans - one carrying an RPG rocket-launcher - filmed in north Belfast

Shocking: A gang of heavily-armed dissident republicans - one carrying an RPG rocket-launcher - filmed in north Belfast

A gang of heavily-armed dissident republicans - one carrying an RPG rocket-launcher - filmed in north Belfast

A video has emerged of masked dissident republicans on the streets of Belfast armed with RPG rocket launchers.

This show of strength is the latest display linked to bloody terror gang, the New IRA.

The video, which has caused an uproar on social media since it emerged on Monday, is believed to have been filmed recently in Ardoyne in north Belfast.

Police have said they are aware of the video and are investigating it.

Superintendent Darrin Jones said: "Police are aware of a video having been posted on a social media site. Enquiries are ongoing."

The New IRA was borne out of an amalgamation of dissident groups in 2013.

In its three years of existence, the New IRA has murdered prison officers David Black and Adrian Ismay, and carried out a number of gun and bomb attacks on police.

It is strongest in Ardoyne, parts of west Belfast, Lurgan, Craigavon, Derry city, and east Tyrone.

However, the vast majority of people living in these areas see the New IRA as nothing more than a criminal gang out to line its pockets and settle personal scores.

Proof of this comes in the form of the murder of drug dealer Kevin Kearney, who was shot dead by the New IRA for refusing extortion demands, and the killing of taxi driver Michael McGibbon, who was targeted for making an alleged remark to a female relative of a leading dissident.

The 33-year-old died after he was shot several times in the leg after being ordered to go to an alleyway in Ardoyne for a punishment attack.

The father-of-four bled to death in the arms of his wife Joanne just yards from their family home.

In January, heroin addict Conor McKee was also murdered by the New IRA in the Oldpark area of north Belfast.

The 31-year-old was blasted three times by a masked gunman at his parents' home on Glenpark Street.

In September, four men were charged with a series of dissident republican terrorist offences after police seized an improvised rocket launcher loaded with a Semtex projectile in Lurgan.

In 2014, the New IRA claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on a police Land Rover at the City Cemetery in west Belfast.

The device was detonated by a command wire as the police patrol passed the City Cemetery on the Falls Road.

The device hit the Land Rover, but police say it caused minimal damage

Belfast Telegraph