A new republican paramilitary group calling itself the IRA is claiming responsibility for the murder of prison officer David Black earlier this month.
In a statement released to the Irish News in Belfast the group say the killing was in direct response to the conditions in Maghaberry Prison, where Mr Black worked.
Fifty two-year-old father of two David Black was shot dead on the M1 in Co Armagh on November 1 as he drove to work.
Today a newly formed republican paramilitary group calling itself the IRA has claimed responsibility for the killing.
In a statement the group said it is a successor to the provisional IRA which disbanded after the Belfast agreement in 1998.
The new organisation is a coalition of dissident groups formed earlier this year.
It said the killing was a direct response to what it said was the degradation of Republican Prisoners at Maghaberry, where nationalists have been protesting against strip searches.