Shooting link to loyalist feud probed

A MAN was shot and seriously wounded in a gun attack in north Belfast yesterday.

The victim is understood to have been hit a number of times in the chest during disturbances close to the Crumlin Road.

Sources have linked the shooting to a deepening loyalist paramilitary feud in the city that has claimed three lives so far. The attack happened at Glenside Park, at around 6.30am.

Neighbours said members of the Loyalist Volunteer Force locked in a vicious turf war with the rival Ulster Volunteer Force were seen in the area.

The man injured was taken to the nearby Mater Hospital for emergency treatment and is described as seriously ill.

A crowd of up to 20 men also gathered outside the hospital, but were held back by police, according to frightened staff.

One woman who arrived for work said: “I parked across from the hospital and got out of my car still only half awake. Then I saw a crowd coming with scarves up over their faces and baseball caps on. I took to my heels and ran in and they started running too.

“Thankfully they didn’t get in, they just came up as close as they dared.”

The shooting victim was later transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

“Whether these men were his friends or the ones who shot him I’m not sure,” the staff member added. “But when the ambulance left here to take him to the Royal they stood across the road cheering. It was scary.”

Police later revealed four men were being questioned following the shooting. Two were arrested under the terms of the Terrorism Act and the other pair on suspicion of attempted murder, a police spokeswoman said.

A gun was taken from the scene by officers and the spokeswoman confirmed that police were investigating a possible link to the loyalist feud.

Meanwhile, a bomb was defused by an army expert during a security alert on the nearby Crumlin Road.