Dissident republicans blamed for shooting Ardoyne man in stomach
Victim who is fighting for life had previous confrontations with Óglaigh na hÉireann group
Republican dissidents were behind the attempted murder of a Belfast man who is fighting for his life after being shot in the stomach.
The Guardian has learned that the 31-year-old target of the shooting had escaped a pipe bomb attack on his home two years earlier.
Two men entered a house in Glengormley on the outskirts of north Belfast on Wednesday night.
They singled out their victim and opened fire with a shotgun. A woman who was in the house escaped injury.
Security sources said the victim, who comes from the republican Ardoyne area of Belfast, had been targeted before by the dissident Óglaigh na hÉireann (ONH) group.
They said he had recently confronted dissident republicans outside a city centre pub and got into a fight with one of them.
Billy Webb, the mayor of Newtonabbey borough council whose area includes Glengormley, said: “I hope the man makes a full and swift recovery. Those who carry out acts of this nature must be brought to justice.”
The Real IRA, Continuity IRA and ONH have attacked members of their own community who have either argued with them or been accused of “antisocial activity”.
In Derry alone the Real IRA has shot and wounded dozens of young men it claimed were involved in drug dealing, car crime or burglaries over the past two and a half years.
