Thugs beat woman with iron bars as daughter watches

A 30-YEAR-OLD woman was savagely beaten with iron bars by a gang as her terrified daughter watched, police said yesterday.

The victim was treated in hospital for a suspected broken arm and leg following the paramilitary-style attack in crisis-hit east Belfast. Ten masked men went on the rampage after forcing their way into a house at Tamery Pass in the Willowfield area on Wednesday night. They smashed all the windows downstairs and ransacked a number of rooms, a police spokesman said: “The males then attacked the victim with iron bars in front of her 12-year-old daughter.”

A car parked at the rear of the house was also badly damaged.

The brutal attack came as loyalists attacked police lines with blast bombs, petrol bombs and gunfire during another night of rioting in the east of the city.