North: Two men injured in shootings

Two men were today in hospital after being injured in separate shootings overnight.

In the first incident a 33-year-old man was taken to hospital after he was shot in the leg in what police described as a paramilitary-style attack.

Two masked men were involved in the incident, and both ran off after the man was shot in an alleyway off Lord Street in East Belfast, a police spokesman said.

In a separate shooting, a man was taken to hospital following a gun attack in Sterling Avenue in Newtonards, Co Down shortly after midnight. Police today said the man was in a stable condition.

Officers are appealing for witnesses or information in both crimes.

Democratic Unionist MP for Strangford Iris Robinson said the man shot in Newtonards had been taken to Ulster Hospital, where he was stable, and that the police would be keeping an open mind as to the motive behind the shooting.

But she said if it turned out to have paramilitary links, it would be very worrying.

“At the end of the day, we can’t be a community who takes the law into their own hands to be judge and prosecutor and right-minded people will be totally appalled by this.

“It’s immoral and I condemn it utterly, and make no reservation about calling on the people who commit these wanton crimes to desist and get off the necks of the people of this province,” she said.

She said there had been a number of incidents in Newtonards in the recent past, but there was no support for paramilitary violence in the Unionist community.

“It’s worrying because there seems to be no end to this criminality and paramilitarism. If it turns out to be paramilitarism, it’s not wanted and we’re fed up to the teeth watching these things unfold on our streets,” she said.