New gangland murder piles pressure on Ahern

A man has been shot dead in Dublin in the latest of a series of gangland killings that is piling pressure on the Government.

The fatal gun attack near the capital’s financial district last night follows a double murder that saw one of the state’s biggest drug dealers killed and claimed the life of an innocent 20-year-old.

The latest victim, a 25-year-old from the north inner city, was known to police.

He was shot a number of times by gunmen at around 9pm in Mayor Street near the Irish Financial Services Centre (IFSC) and died a short time later in the Mater Hospital.

The killing is the sixth violent death – and forth fatal shooting – in less than a week.

The incident has brought the number of violent deaths this year to 62, including 24 gun killings, the highest level for almost a decade.

Tuesday saw the fatal double shooting drug baron Marlo Hyland in Scribblestown Park in Finglas, and apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell who was working in the house at the same time.

Hyland, 39, one of the country’s biggest drug dealers, was hit six times in the head and body as he slept in an upstairs bedroom in a relative's house.

The killing of the innocent bystander was condemned by the victim's family.

Before last night’s killing, opposition parties had called for the resignation of Minister for Justice Michael McDowell and hit out at Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the Dáil, forcing him to launch a defence of the efforts to combat organised crime.

Meanwhile, detectives in Dundalk are continuing to investigate the murder of a 37-year-old in the townland of Dromad after carjackers rammed a vehicle in which he was a passenger.

The man and an acquaintance were both sitting in a car at Faughart, near Dundalk, when the vehicle was rammed by the hijackers. Gardaí say a confrontation ensued, leaving the victim dead and his acquaintance needing hospital treatment.

Garda and the PSNI have joined the hunt for the machete-wielding gang which killed the man after an hour-long carjacking spree. The group is believed to have fled to the North.

The attackers, who are believed to have been armed with a machete, had hijacked a number of other vehicles in the Dundalk area earlier in the night.

One of those was found across the border in Newry last night, while another vehicle believed to have been used by the gang was also found near the border in Co Louth.

On Friday afternoon, postmaster Alan Cunniffe was shot dead in Kilkenny during a botched robbery, while Dubliner Eddie McCabe died on Friday night, a week after he was savagely attacked by thugs who dumped him in a lane.