Two hurt in NI punishment attack

A man aged 60 and his nephew have been battered in a paramilitary assault in Co Tyrone, it emerged tonight.

The victims suffered broken bones after a gang claiming to be from a Republican organisation clubbed them with iron bars studded with nails, police said.

The older man was watching TV with his 23-year-old relative when masked thugs burst into the house at Ballygawley Road, Dungannon last night.

The younger man was dragged out, put in the boot of a car and driven away while his uncle managed to go to a neighbour’s house to raise the alarm.

He was later taken to hospital and treated for two broken legs and two broken elbows.

His nephew had been taken to waste ground in the town where he was beaten again before the vehicle was set on fire.

He was eventually found early today and taken for treatment on a broken leg and severe bruising.