Shankill bomber questioned in connection with shooting

A man convicted of the IRA Shankill bombing is being questioned today in connection with the shooting of a teenager in Belfast on Tuesday night.

Shankill bomber questioned in connection with shooting

A man convicted of the IRA Shankill bombing is being questioned today in connection with the shooting of a teenager in Belfast on Tuesday night.

An 18-year-old male has had emergency hospital treatment but is in a stable condition in hospital after being shot in both legs in what was described as a paramilitary-style attack.

Sean Kelly (aged 39) is being questioned in connection with the shooting following his arrest yesterday, but has not been charged.

Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson is seeking talks with the chief constable to discuss the arrest.

Kelly, once jailed for life for the attack which left 10 people dead, was arrested at his home in the republican Ardoyne area close to where the 18-year-old was wounded.

Mr Robinson said today: "The family of the man who has been shot has indicated the involvement of those associated with Sinn Féin in this attack.

"This connection raises potentially grave consequences for the process and we will want to meet with the chief constable (Matt Baggott) to establish the background of this case and how the police are able to conclude that it is not paramilitary linked.

"We will be monitoring very closely the facts of this case as they arise and the Sinn Fein response to them."

Kelly received nine life sentences for an attack on Frizzell's fish shop in the loyalist Shankill Road area in 1993.

A second IRA man who was with him was among those killed when a 5lb bomb exploded prematurely.

The intended target was loyalist paramilitary leaders who had been expected to hold a meeting in a room above the shop.

Kelly, from the neighbouring Ardoyne, was pulled from the rubble of the collapsed building. He lost an eye and the power of his left arm. There were 60 other survivors.

He was jailed for life two years later, but as part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace agreement he was freed with hundreds of other loyalist and republican prisoners.

He became an immediate hate figure among loyalists, especially in Belfast, and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers will almost certainly ask to be kept fully informed of the police investigation into Tuesday night's shooting.

The Secretary of State has the power to consider his early release licence. Kelly was sent back to jail in 2005 when his licence was revoked by the then Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain amid allegations the top republican had become re-involved in terrorism. He was held for a month at the top security Maghaberry Prison.

DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds called for Ms Villiers to act quickly to assess whether to revoke Kelly's early release licence and return him to prison.

"People such as Sean Kelly should never have been released from prison in the first place and all those who supported such measures in 1998 bear a heavy responsibility," he said.

"(Former Northern Ireland secretary) Peter Hain suspended Sean Kelly's early release licence in the past on the basis that he was satisfied of Kelly's involvement in illegal activity.

"Whilst there is an ongoing police investigation relating to the shooting of a young man in Ardoyne on Tuesday night, it is clear that the Secretary of State must now give urgent consideration to the question of suspending this licence once again and return Kelly to prison where he should always have been."

Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said Mr Robinson's comments were ridiculous.

He said the violence related to loyalist protests in recent weeks represented a serious challenge to the political process.

"We in Sinn Féin kept our nerve," he said.

"The assertion that this shooting in north Belfast, which I unreservedly condemn, and the facts of which are at this stage under PSNI investigation and are unclear, should threaten the political process is frankly ridiculous.

"The DUP should keep their nerve."

A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman said: "The NIO can confirm that any prisoner released on licence can have that licence revoked and be returned to custody if they breach the conditions of that licence.

"We cannot comment on individual cases."

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