Man stabbed in racist attack

A Portuguese man was stabbed in a suspected racist attack in the North early today.

Police said the 25-year-old man was taken to hospital with serious stomach wounds.

The man had just got out of a taxi in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, with a girlfriend in the early hours when they were attacked.

The Police Service said the couple became involved in a scuffle with a group of men who approached them in the Northern Row area of the town at around 2.40am.

During the fight the man was stabbed in the stomach and the woman, aged 23, suffered facial injuries which are not believed to be serious.

A PSNI spokeswoman said a racial motive for the attack was one possibility being investigated by detectives.

There has been a huge rise in race hate attacks in the North – many of them in Co Tyrone – where migrant workers have been targeted by locals.

Meanwhile, in Belfast a taxi driver had a gun put to his head by four men he drove to the north of the city.

Police said he picked up the men in the Crumlin Road area and drove them to Ligoniel where one of the men produced a small handgun and put it to the back of the driver’s head.

During a struggle the driver managed to get out and run off and the men fled down an alley beside McKenna’s Bar.

Sinn Féin accused loyalists of a sectarian murder attempt which only failed when the gun jammed.

North Belfast Councillor Ni Chuilin said: “These men went with the intention of killing someone. There is clearly a sectarian motivation in this attempted murder. This is a very serious development.”

Mr Chuilin added: “This taxi driver was going about his daily business. He was targeted because of where he worked. The only thing that saved this man’s life was the fact that the gun jammed.”