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Adolescente gambizzato dai lealisti a Coleraine

Boy, 15, shot in both legs

Attacco lealista a Coleraine

Loyalist paramilitaries are being blamed for shooting a 15-year-old boy in both legs in Coleraine, Co Londonderry.

Three masked men, wearing dark clothing, entered a house at Glebe Avenue just before 5am on Monday morning and shot him.

One of the men was also carrying a baseball bat.

He was taken to the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine but has since been transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast where it’s believed he underwent surgery to remove at least one bullet from his leg.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Will Kerr said that the shooting was “morally reprehensible.”

“It’s too early to actually specify who the suspects are at that stage. I mean, anybody who thinks shooting a 15-year-old progresses any legitimate aim is absolute madness – the shooting of children.”

He revealed that since June last year, 69 arrests have been made by police in relation to punishment type attacks. Eighteen people have been charged.

Monday’s incident is the second shooting of this type in the wider Coleraine area in less than a week and loyalist gunmen are being blamed for both.

John Dallat, SDLP MLA for East Derry, has hit out at the gang responsible, saying he was “horrified to learn of the kneecapping of a 15 year old child.”

“This is an extremely worrying development for people living in the area. I would urge the community to co-operate with the police and provide information which will help bring about an arrest.”

“I would also ask the Chief Constable, in light of this attack to revise his position in respect of loyalist paramilitaries who are clearly flouting the terms of their ceasefire.

“Gangs of this nature must not be allowed to abuse members of this community and deliver their perverse concept of ‘justice’.”

DUP deputy Mayor Mark Fielding said there was “no excuse or justification for this type of activity”.

“This is barbaric, I thought the guns were off the streets, no-one has the right to take the law into their own hands,” he said.

“This is a teenager and last week it was done in front of a teenage partner and a young baby was in the house so this is twice in a week and this has to stop.”

Alliance Councillor Yvonne Boyle described the shooting as “despicable.”

“The whole community is in shock at such a cruel attack on a young boy.

“This type of behaviour cannot be allowed to continue and it is unbelievable that the victim was only 15-years-old. Causing harm to others is a completely unacceptable way to deal with any tensions in the community,” she added.

“My thoughts are with the victim and I hope he will make a full recovery and be able to overcome the injuries he sustained.”

In the assembly, the incident was condemned by MLAs along with other violent and paramilitary-style incidents, including a pipe bomb thrown at police in Londonderry and an arson attack on a Belfast Alliance Party office.

East Londonderry DUP MLA Gregory Campbell, introducing the topic, said those responsible for recent violence “want to try to drive us back to the past”.

“The community has to be absolutely clear, not just in its unity of opposition to such attacks, which, of course, we will demonstrate today, but it must take that unity further and ensure that the people who carried out those attacks cannot do so again,” he said.

TUV leader Jim Allister said the events were “shameful and wrong”.

Sinn Féin’s Dominic Bradley condemned the Coleraine incident along with another recent shooting in his constituency of Cullyhanna in Co Armagh.

Police are appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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