A new republican paramilitary group calling itself the IRA has claimed responsibility for the murder of prison officer David Black earlier this month.

In a statement released to The Irish News in Belfast the group said the killing was in direct response to the conditions in Magaberry Prison.

The 52-year-old father of two was shot dead on the M1 in Co. Armagh on the November 1st as he drove to work.

‘Successor to provisional IRA’

In the statement to The Irish News newspaper group 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 Magaberry Jail where nationalists have been protesting against strip searches.