Almost 80% of people shot by the New IRA and other republican terror groups in Northern Ireland over nearly 10 years have been Catholics and nationalists.

A study of dissident republican violence has found that from 2007 onwards the hardline anti-Good Friday agreement paramilitaries killed or wounded far more people from the communities they claim to represent than police, soldiers or intelligence services personnel.

The survey results, in an analysis of fatal shootings and woundings for the journal Terrorism and Political Violence, record that in the categories “Catholics” and “criminals” the victims comprised more than 77% of the 175 people shot dead or wounded by armed dissident republicans.

The study, starting at a point in 2007 when Sinn Féin agreed to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) as part of a deal to restore devolution, stretches to the end of 2015, when all the people shot by the New IRA, Continuity IRA, and Óglaigh na hÉireann were Catholic civilians.

By contrast, police officers accounted for just over 15% of shooting casualties from 2007 to 2015, while over the same period British soldiers who were shot made up just over 0.5% of the overall casualty list.

Catholic civilians have suffered the same brunt from explosive attacks detonated by dissident republicans as PSNI officers; both groups, which were analysed by the terrorism experts John F Morrison and John Horgan, made up 40% of casualties injured in bomb, grenade and rocket attacks.

Morrison, a senior lecturer in criminology and criminal justice, at the University of East London, said: “What the research is clearly showing is that while the violent dissident republicans are portraying themselves as fighting against British occupation the majority of their violence is most directly affecting the civilian population. These civilian victims and targets are most notably from the very same Catholic and nationalist communities they claim to both represent and protect.”

Asked why there were so many shootings and even grenade attacks on Catholics by dissident republicans, Morrison added: “What they are aiming to achieve is power and control. Through their actions and statements they are aiming to portray that both Sinn Féin and the police have abandoned the protection of these communities. They are emphasising their belief that police are not protecting and cannot protect these communities against the scourge of drugs. They are also saying that the PSNI, in their eyes a ‘British police force’, has no legitimate right to protect.”

One of the latest victims to die in a dissident republican shooting was Michael McGibbon, 33, a father of four, who was shot on 15 April. The New IRA shot the taxi driver outside his home in the republican district of Ardoyne, north Belfast, and he died on 16 April.

McGibbon had been ordered to turn up for a so-called punishment shooting over remarks he allegedly made to a woman with connections to the republican group. He died from blood loss in front of his wife, a nurse. She had tried in vain to save her husband.

In the same week the New IRA also shot and wounded a Catholic man in Derry who was due to appear in court over alleged drug offending.