O’Loan to probe men’s shooting

THE North’s police ombudswoman is investigating the shooting of two men by security forces at the weekend.

One man is critically ill in hospital with bullet wounds to the chest and leg. He was shot in Belfast city centre by a police patrol during what is thought to have been a major surveillance operation against republican bombers.

During the operation the other man was arrested and bomb disposal experts dealt with a potentially lethal fire-bomb device left in a car.

The area close to the City Hall was cordoned off as troops dealt with the device left outside the motor tax office in Upper Queen Street.

The fire-bomb attached to fuel containers would have created a massive fire ball if it had exploded, said police.

The security forces have foiled a number of recent attempts by dissident republicans to bomb the city centre in the run-up to Christmas and it is thought police were tracking suspect vehicles when the shooting happened.

Sinn Féin president Mr Mitchel McLaughlin said: “Why was it necessary to shoot an unarmed man particularly when there was heavy surveillance in the area at the time?”

He has demanded a full inquiry and Ombudswoman Mrs Nuala O’Loan, who has publicly clashed with the police chiefs in the past year will investigate the circumstances.

She will also look at the shooting of a man shot following a spate of ramraid attacks in Newry, Co Down early on Sunday.

He was shot as he tried to pin a police officer against a wall with a car following the fourth in a series of incidents in the city.