Belfast, Apr 20 (IANS): Northern Ireland police have arrested two teenagers in the killing of 29-year-old investigative journalist Lyra McKee, authorities said on Saturday.

The suspects are both male, aged 18 and 19, and were arrested under the Terrorism Act, the Police Service of Northern Ireland tweeted. They have been taken to a police station in central Belfast, CNN reported.

McKee, who was a prominent journalist, was killed in the Creggan area of Londonderry on Thursday night in what police have described as a "terrorist incident".

Dissident republicans are believed to be responsible for her death, which happened during a night of rioting. Images from the scene showed cars alight as a crowd threw fireworks and petrol bombs at emergency vehicles.

McKee was standing close to a police vehicle when she was injured by a single gunman firing shots into a residential area. She died soon after from her injuries, assistant chief constable Mark Hamilton told the media on Friday.

Mckee, who was born in Belfast, is the first journalist to be killed in the UK since 2001, according to non-profit organisation the Committee to Protect Journalists.