Garda attacked by kidnap gang

A garda was attacked by an armed gang holding four people hostage in an attempted tiger kidnaping.

The robbers used shovels and bars after they were confronted by the officer at a post office in Clonfad, Co Roscommon, today.

It is the second tiger kidnapping in two days. Four men ordered an An Post worker to take cash from the GPO on Tuesday morning while his wife and two children were held hostage.

The four masked men entered a private house adjoining the Post Office at about 11pm last night and tied up a retired post master.

The gang then took the man to the home of the new postmistress and abducted her and her elderly parents, before taking them back to the first house.

A Garda spokesman said local gardaí became suspicious and travelled to the post office at about 8am, where one officer confronted the four suspects and was attacked with shovels and bars.

“The Garda received minor injuries and no other person was physically injured during the incident ,” said a Garda spokesman.

The men fled with no money in a green Volkswagen hatchback car with a 06-Mayo registration number.

Gardaí have appealed to anyone who saw anything suspicious in the Clonfad, and the nearby Williamstown area, last night to come forward.

Crime scenes in both locations have been preserved for forensic examination.

There have been two so-called tiger kidnappings this year and five last year.

An Post executive Liam O’Sullivan, his wife Mary and two children were held up by at least four armed raiders in their Co Kildare home on Monday night.

Mr O’Sullivan was forced to go to the GPO on Dublin’s O’Connell Street to get money. But his wife – the sister of Fianna Fail whip Sean O Fearghaill – managed to free herself. The gang escaped empty-handed.