Loyalist target may leave North

The target of a failed loyalist gun attack on Sunday night has revealed that he is thinking of leaving the North following the death of his friend in a similar attack on the same night.

Ryan Corbett was one of five Catholics shot at by the Ulster Defence Association on Sunday following the earlier shooting of a Protestant man, believed to have been carried out by the INLA.

Mr Corbett had left a pub in the Oldpark area of north Belfast when he saw his attackers pulling up on a motorbike.

One of the men pulled out a gun, but the weapon jammed and Mr Corbett escaped unharmed.

His friend, Gerard Lawlor, was not so lucky and was shot dead by the UDA a short time later

near the Whitewell Road.

Mr Corbett said today that if the gunmen had managed to kill him, his friend would in all probability have survived.

He said he now feels like packing his bags and leaving the North entirely.