London/Belfast - Police in Northern Ireland were Tuesday questioning nine men in connection with the brutal murder of a Catholic man, in what is believed to have been a sectarian killing.

Kevin McDaid, a 49-year-old father of four, was attacked by a gang of about 40 men following a football match in the town of Coleraine, in the northern county of Londonderry, on Sunday.

His wife, Evelyn, who was injured in the assault, appealed for calm and said there should be no retaliation for her husband's murder.

"He wouldn't want retaliation for it ... He was trying to keep the peace, he didn't want all this - the nonsense that's been going on here for years and years. He wanted peace," said the widow, who is a Protestant. (dpa)