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The DUP's Sammy Wilson told a US TV station that it's okay to compare Sinn Féin with ISIS

The MP said he agrees with the comparison.

PBS NewsHour / YouTube

(Clip starts at 5;45)

DUP MP SAMMY Wilson says that he agrees with a Belfast mural comparing Sinn Féin to the so-called Islamic State group.

Wilson backed the comparison while speaking in an extended news feature by US public service broadcaster PBS.

The PBS Newshour segment by reporter Patricia Sabga was about the upcoming Northern Ireland elections and the fallout from the Brexit vote.

Part of the segment focused on ongoing sectarian tensions in Belfast and showed a large banner in the city that features images of four separate bomb attacks.

It features: The Real IRA’s Omagh bombing that killed 29 people, the IRA’s Hyde Park bombing that killed four British soldiers, the IRA’s Canary Wharf bombing that killed two people and the ISIS attack on Paris that killed 130 people.

Under pictures of scenes from Paris, the caption reads: “IRA – Sinn Féin – ISIS no difference”.

PastedImage-39073 Youtube / PBS Youtube / PBS / PBS

During the course of the interview with PBS, Wilson was asked about the mural and whether the message it sends is helpful.

“There has always been an affiliation between Irish republicans and terrorist groups, especially in the Middle East,” Wilson claimed, before he was pushed on whether he agreed with the message.

“Yes I do,” he responded,

In November 2014, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams raised some eyebrows when he tweeted that he had never have been a member of Isis.

Adams was likely responding to Fine Gael TD Noel Coonan who had earlier that day compared some water protesters to Isis.

Read: New poll shows that support for Sinn Féin is at its highest level in a year >

Read: Hard border fears as government accused of seeking out locations for customs posts >

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Rónán Duffy
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