Loyalist bandsmen stabbed in NI attack

Two loyalist bandsmen were stabbed and seriously injured in an attack in Belfast early today.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there was a sectarian motive for the attack in the north of the city.

The men, together with a third man, were walking along the Shore Road in their bandsmen’s uniforms when they were set upon by four men at around 2.30am.

One of the bandsmen was stabbed in the neck and a second in the stomach. Both were taken to hospital in a serious condition and one underwent emergency surgery.

Police said they were treating the attack as attempted murder and four men in their late teens and early 20s had been arrested for questioning.

The area around the scene of the attack remained sealed of while a full forensic examination was carried out.

It is believed the bandsmen had been on their way home after attending a loyalist band parade in the Sandy Row area of Belfast last night.

Politicians from both sides of the community joined to condemn the stabbings.

Nigel Dodds, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Belfast branded it “a despicable sectarian attack” about which the community in the area were understandably angry.

SDLP councillor Pat Convery said he unreservedly condemned the violent stabbing.

Mr Convery said: “This is sectarianism in its worst form. It is intolerable that such bigotry and hatred should continue to exist, particularly in an area that has seen its people suffer too much for too long.

“Our community has to move forward and leave its violent past behind.”