Teenager's shooting linked to loyalist feud
A teenager shot and wounded in Northern Ireland was the latest victim of a bitter feud among rival loyalist paramilitary factions, security sources said this evening.
The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) has been linked to the murder bid on the 18-year-old who was hit in the arm as he opened a store at a building site in Portadown, Co Armagh.
The victim managed to escape to a nearby house after being pursued by gunmen. He was not badly hurt and his hospital condition was later described as "stable".
RUC Chief Inspector Terry Walkingshaw said: ‘"It was a miraculous escape".
Two masked gunmen were involved in the attack near Princess Way and fired at least four times.
At one stage the gunmen chased their victim and later both of them pointed their weapons at a group of other workmen standing nearby, including the teenager’s father.
The father’s home was damaged three weeks ago in an attack also linked to the feud.
A silver Peugeot 309 thought to have been used in the shooting was later found on fire in an area between Portadown and the nearby village of Tandragee.
Earlier, three houses in the loyalist Ballysillan area of north Belfast were damaged in three attacks which police believe may have been linked.
Nobody was hurt, but it is thought the front window of one of the houses was shattered by a shotgun blast.
Five people have been killed in the fighting between the UVF and rival Loyalist Volunteer Force (LVF) over the last 18 months.
Four weeks ago Grahame Marks, 37, was gunned down at his home in Tandragee.
The killing occurred close to where two teenage boys were murdered in a frenzied stabbing early last year.
Mr Marks was one of a number of men questioned about the double killing but was released without charge.
The murders were seen as a retaliation attack for the murder of UVF commander Richard Jameson in nearby Portadown in January, last year.
Tensions mounted once more in March when LVF man Adrian Porter was gunned down at his home in Conlig, Co Down.
Following today’s gun attack David Trimble, First Minister in the Northern Ireland power-sharing executive, urged the paramilitary groupings to call a halt to their warring.
"It’s not what people want, it’s not the society we want to have and I hope it’s not connected with that," he said.
"This should not be happening. I hope the police will be able to deal with this and deal with it effectively as they should do."
