A NUMBER of people were being questioned last night about the IRA
murder of two policemen in County Tyrone early yesterday.
There was widespread revulsion and condemnation of the killing. The
two officers were shot as they drove their unmarked Renault 21 through
the small town during the early hours.
They were arrested during a major security operation in the area
around Fivemiletown after extra police and troops were airlifted to the
scene.
Two gunmen stepped from the shadows in the town centre and opened fire
on the car from both sides. More than 20 shots were fired and the RUC
men died instantly.
The policemen were named last night as Constable William John Andrew
Beacom, 46, and Reserve Constable Ernest Frederic Smith, 49. Both were
married with children.
RUC Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley described it as a ''senseless
act of barbarity carried out in such a cowardly fashion by faceless
criminals''.
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