"This feud is going on for years, we are fighting to the death"
A Garda helicopter was being used last night to search for Eddie Ryan Jnr, 20, and his 19-year-old brother Kieran, both of whom were bundled into a car by two armed men in the Ballynanty area of Limerick city shortly after 10.30pm on Thursday night.
Their father, Eddie Ryan Snr was shot dead in a gangland killing in a Limerick city pub two years ago.
Friends of the abducted men said they were not afraid to die if that's what it took to free the brothers.
Gathered outside the family home yesterday, one of the gang members said: "We know the people who have taken Eddie and Kieran. We have been fighting with them for the last three days and they were here yesterday in a van to break into the Ryan house but we managed to stop them."
"This feud is going on for years it's getting worse. At this stage we don't give a f**k whether we die, we are fighting to the death."
Others who gathered at the steps of the Ryan home in Hogan Avenue, Kileely yesterday, said they were concerned that the two boys were being tortured.
"If they wanted to shoot them they would probably have done it there and then. We're afraid that they have them somewhere and are torturing them," said a relative.
The boys' mother Mary was last night praying for the safety of her sons who were abducted at gunpoint as they were walking along Moylish Road, Ballynanty, a short distance from their home with their friend Christopher "Smokie" Costello.
Mr Costello escaped but one shot was fired at him and pellet shots were later found in his jacket.
