Man and woman quizzed in relation to 1994 pub killings
A man and a woman were being questioned today about the gunning down of six men as they watched the World Cup in a pub in the North 12 years ago.
They were being questioned by police in Antrim about the killings in the Heights Bar in Loughinisland, Co Down.
Loyalist paramilitaries were believed to have been behind the attack, which occurred while customers watched live coverage on television of Ireland playing Italy in the 1994 USA World Cup.
Five people were also injured in the June 1994 attack by gunmen armed with an AK47 and a Czech-made rifle.
The six people who died were Adrian Rogan, a 34-year-old scrap metal contractor and father of two, 59-year-old single farmer Daniel McCreanor, 39-year-old father of four Eamon Byrne, his 35-year-old single brother-in-law Patrick O’Hare, 87-year-old Barney Green and 53-year-old Malcolm Jenkinson, a father of three and a building contractor.
It is understood that today's arrests occurred in the greater Belfast area.
The Ulster Volunteer Force was believed to have been responsible for the Loughinisland killings.
There was widespread revulsion at the killings, with Pope John Paul II among those who sent messages of sympathy to the families of the victims.
News of the massacre also filtered through to New Jersey after Ireland beat Italy 1-0.
The FAI sent its sympathy to the relatives of those killed.
In May 1995 a polished granite memorial to the victims was blessed by the Catholic auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor outside St Macartan’s Church, across the road from the pub where they died.
A special fund set up by the villagers paid for the memorial.
