The INLA staged a huge 'Show of Strength' tonight in Belfast that culminated in the firing of a volley of shots from an automatic rifle over the coffin of their former leader.

Masked men have fired gun shots in west Belfast to mark the death of INLA killer Martin McElkerney.

Video footage emerged on social media showing one man firing a rifle into the air outside a house, before retreating inside.

The gunman was flanked by several men who were also wearing balaclavas.

Final salute Marty Mac pic.twitter.com/47ix1Zcsrm — lone wolf (@lonewol22156321) May 20, 2019

Another video shows around 20 masked men in a guard of honour as a coffin arrives.

Triple killer McElkerney was jailed in 1987 for his part in a 1982 boobytrap bomb which killed two schoolboys, Kevin Valliday (11) and his friend Stephen Bennet (14), as well as 20-year-old Lance Bombardier Kevin Waller.

Expand Close Martin McElkerney, who was jailed for his role in the 1982 booby-trap explosion / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Martin McElkerney, who was jailed for his role in the 1982 booby-trap explosion

McElkerney died last week after he was found with critical gunshot wounds at the republican plot in Milltown Cemetery.

His funeral is to take place on Thursday at St Peter’s Cathedral at 11am, followed by cremation at Roselawn at 4pm.

The INLA man had been identified in court as the look-out for the bomber who planted the device at Divis Flats in 1982.

McElkerney received three life sentences in 1987, but was released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Belfast Telegraph