London: Loyalist paramilitaries have been blamed for shooting a 15-year-old boy in a so-called punishment attack in Northern Ireland.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said three masked men entered a house at Glebe Avenue in Coleraine around 12.50am on Monday morning.
They singled out the boy and then shot him in both legs while another of the gang wielded a baseball bat, the PSNI said.
A nationalist assembly member described the incident as “brutal and ruthless” and expressed concern that it may happen again.
The SDLP’s John Dallat said it was the second such incident in the area in recent weeks. He also challenged the chief constable to review if loyalist paramilitary ceasefires had been broken as a result of such incidents.
“No one knows whose child could be the next victim of such a gang,” he said, adding that he believed loyalist paramilitaries were responsible.
“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.”
Loyalist terror groups, particularly the Ulster Volunteer Force, have remained active despite being officially on ceasefire. The UVF in east Belfast has been behind much of the street riots connected to the union flag dispute at Belfast City Hall.
The organisation is also thought behind a series of shootings in the east of the city, including the attempted murder of a former girlfriend of the UVF’s so-called commander in the area earlier this year.
The majority of attacks and violent incidents involve loyalists portraying themselves as an alternative vigilante police force in Protestant working-class areas carrying out summary “justice” against those accused of anti-social activities.
In a further bid to assess their dominance in working-class loyalist districts, the UVF in North Down distributed posters and leaflets at the weekend in Bangor, County Down with the names of people they accused of drug-dealing in the town.
Paramiltiary vigilante-style attacks a throwback to the worst days of the Troubles are not confined, however, to loyalist areas. The new IRA said it was behind an attack on a house in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast at the weekend.
A new IRA leaflet was distributed to households in the area by masked men on Saturday, stating that a local resident was asked to leave the area, but they refused and was forcibly removed as a result.
In response, the PSNI said: “Due to the fact that repairs were required to be carried out on the property the resident advised police she would temporarily relocate to alternative accommodation until these works were completed.”
It continued: “The PSNI does not tolerate any type of vigilante activity and we would caution any individual or group against taking the law into their own hands. Those who do may themselves commit offences and may subsequently be liable to prosecution.”
