Shoot-out sparks fear in Ulster

BELFAST, AUG. 29. British troops were rushed to a Northern Ireland town today after an 11-year-old girl was wounded in a gun attack believed to be linked to a vicious feud between Protestant guerilla groups.

Charlene Daly was shot in the back during the attack on the house in a Protestant area of the town of Coleraine overnight, police said.

``The young girl was injured when several shots were discharged... She is said to be in a comfortable condition in hospital,'' a police spokesman said. ``Army patrols have been deployed in the town following the shooting incident.'' The deployment of troops and a police statement ruling out a sectarian motive signalled the attack was linked to the Protestant guerilla feud that had killed three men this month and threatened the British province's fragile peace.

The guerillas, who call themselves pro-British `loyalists', are fighting over territory and personal grievances. Political sources say Belfast's lucrative drug trade is the main prize at the heart of the conflict.

Security sources, who said the police had arrested several people in connection with the latest incident, believed the attack was aimed at others in the house rather than the girl.

One of those in the house is reported to have been a member of the Progressive Unionist Party, a political group allied to the Ulster Volunteer Force guerilla group.

Tension has been high in Belfast with two Protestant guerilla groups, the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) and the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), locked in conflict with the rival Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).Coleraine has experienced incidents connected to the feud.

Britain says it will not let the violence threaten the peace process. It put the former Protestant guerilla leader, Johnny `mad dog' Adair back in prison last week as a warning that it was prepared to get tough and poured soldiers onto Belfast's streets to back police efforts to halt the violence.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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