Three men hurt in 'loyalist' gun attack

Three men were today shot and injured in what bore all the hallmarks of a loyalist sectarian gun attack in north Belfast.

They were hit in a drive-by attack by gunmen firing from a car as they sat talking in nationalist Atlantic Drive off the Antrim Road.

Police said one of the victims had been injured in the stomach, another in the shoulder and a third had suffered a bullet graze.

Officers who arrived at the scene provided first aid to the men until an ambulance arrived and took them all to hospital where their conditions were not immediately known.

Sinn Fein immediately accused the loyalist Ulster Defence Association of “attempted mass murder”.

Party local councillor Gerard Brophy said the victims, in their early 20s, had been sitting on bollards with a group of others when the gunmen pulled up beside them.

He said gunmen opened fire with a number of weapons before the car sped off at high speed.

Mr Brophy claimed the car had raced into the loyalist Tiger’s Bay area where it was set on fire.

He said: “It is a UDA stronghold, they were responsible for attempted mass murder.

“They are trying to stoke up sectarian tensions again and seeking a response. I appeal for people to remain calm.”

Police said five or six shots were fired from a red car occupied by three or four men.

A spokesman said officers were later examining the remains of a burned out red Rover found in the nearby loyalist Tiger’s Bay area , which they said could have been used in the attack.

Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Hugh Orde visited the scene of the shooting.

He described it as “a motiveless, mindless, sectarian attack”.

And Northern Ireland Office minister Des Browne said: “There can be no justification whatsoever for such mindless savagery.

“It is time for all decent people to isolate these violent so called loyalists involved in this type of activity”

Alban Maginness, the SDLP north Belfast Assembly member, joined in blaming loyalists for the attack in the area which has been constantly troubled by sectarian strife.

He said: “After a short period of relative calm in north Belfast the loyalist paramilitaries have shattered the hopes for a more settled and peaceful north Belfast with today’s drive-by shooting.

“This was clearly an attack on innocent people and seriously ratchets up the loyalist campaign against the Catholic community.”

The shooting came after a young couple narrowly escaped injury when their home in Atlantic Avenue was targeted in a loyalist pipe bomb attack during the night.

The device was thrown over the peace line into the rear garden of the house in the predominantly nationalist area from the loyalist Glenbryn area of Ardoyne.