Police say a member of an Irish Republican Army splinter group involved in a bloody feud with Dublin drug dealers has been killed in an ambush outside a rural Irish pub.

Peter Butterly was shot in the head and body Wednesday outside the Huntsman Inn near the village of Gormanston north of Dublin.

Witnesses said Butterly had arrived for a meeting and was shot as he walked toward the car containing the gunman.

Irish authorities have been seeking to convict Butterly for Real IRA activities since his 2010 arrest in connection with the discovery of an arms dump containing explosives, detonators, guns and ammunition.

Police said in a statement that they arrested four men inside the suspected getaway car, found a handgun inside, and arrested a fifth man nearby.