28/11/2001

Three men hurt in paramilitary style attacks

Three men who were beaten in paramilitary style assaults in separate incidents have both been treated in hospital for their wounds.

In the first incident in west Belfast, a 21-year-old man was dragged from his bed at around 9am by four masked men on Tuesday November 27. He was gagged and had a pillowcase put over his head, before being taken in a silver car to an alleyway between New Barnsley Crescent and New Barnsley Park. He was beaten in the alley with an iron bar and hurley stick.

The second beating took place in the Castlemara area of Carrickfergus shortly after 9pm on Tuesday. Three masked men forced their way into a flat and beat a 23-year-old man with hammers and a baseball bat. The man was taken to hospital with suspected broken arms.

The third incident involves a 26-year-old Ballymena man who was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg in what police believe to be a loyalist paramilitary-style attack. Two men, one armed with a handgun, forced the victim into a white Ford Escort in the Drumtara area of the town shortly before 8pm on Tuesday. They then drove him to a laneway where he was shot.

Meanwhile, a family has escaped injury in a gun attack in County Antrim. The incident happened shortly before 1am on Wednesday November 28.

The family, whose caravan was parked at Nutts Corner Road in Crumlin, was wakened by what sounded like a gunshot. Damage was caused to a vehicle parked alongside the caravan.

The police said it was believed a shotgun was fired at the vehicle. It is understood a man, woman and six children were in the caravan at the time. (AMcE)

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