A 29-year-old woman has been killed after shots were fired during riots in Londonderry, with police treating it as a “terrorist incident”.

Police have appealed for calm after petrol bombs were also thrown during late-night disturbances in the Creggan area of the city.

Assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: “Sadly I can confirm that following shots being fired tonight in Creggan, a 29-year-old woman has been killed.”

A murder investigation has been launched.

Leona O’Neill, who was at the scene, said she called an ambulance for the woman.

She tweeted: “I was standing beside this young woman when she fell beside a police Land Rover tonight in Creggan #Derry. I called an ambulance for her but police put her in the back of their vehicle and rushed her to hospital where she died. Just 29 years old. Sick to my stomach tonight.”

Sky’s senior Ireland correspondent David Blevins said tensions had been building in Creggan in the run-up to Easter, when republicans mark the anniversary of the 1916 uprising against British rule in Ireland.

“There was some disorder last Easter when dissident republicans, who are opposed to the peace process, organised an illegal parade there,” he said.

“Earlier this week, they said police would be to blame for any disorder this year and warned what they called ‘British crown forces’ not to saturate the area.”

Blevins added: “Despite the fact that we are 21 years past the Good Friday Agreement, 26 years into the terrorist ceasefires in Northern Ireland, dissident republicans, renegade republican groups still oppose the peace process and the threat level posed by them has never been deemed less than severe in Northern Ireland – remember just two months ago they detonated a car bomb in this very city.

“So tonight police are clearly suggesting that dissident republicans have orchestrated this rioting in the Creggan area and are suggesting that the gunfire that claimed a life came from the dissident republican side.”

Sinn Fein’s deputy leader Michelle O’Neill condemned the “senseless loss of life”, saying it was not only a tragedy for the family, but also “an attack on all the people of this community, an attack on our peace process and an attack on the Good Friday Agreement”.

She added: “I unreservedly condemn those responsible for killing this young woman.

“We will remain resolute in our opposition to the pointless actions of these people who care nothing for the people of Derry.

“We remain united in our determination to building a better and peaceful future for all.”

Ms O’Neill called on those responsible to “disband immediately and end their pointless actions against the community”.

DUP leader Arlene Foster called it a “senseless act”.

“A family has been torn apart,” she said, adding: “Those who brought guns onto our streets in the 70s, 80s & 90s were wrong. It is equally wrong in 2019.

“No one wants to go back. My thoughts are also with the brave officers who stood in defence of their community.”

Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party Robin Swann said news of the death was “devastating”.

He tweeted: “A precious life lost, we can’t go back to this nor can we allow others to drag us back.”

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