W2C-006 Belfast Telegraph 5-2.txt
UVF admit murder bid on Protestant Gary Grattan

The UVF have admitted they tried to kill a Protestant man in east Belfast last night.

But, in a call to a Belfast newsroom, the loyalist terror group denied there was any political or sectarian motive for the attack.

Ponytail

Police have discounted a sectarian motive and are pursuing "a specific line of enquiry."

The 43-year-old victim was "very seriously ill but stable" after undergoing emergency surgery in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

He was shot twice in the chest by a lone, unmasked gunman at the front door of his home at Palmerston Park, Holywood Road, at around 9.40 pm.

Police have issued a description of the gunman. He is said to be aged between 29-30, around 6 ft tall and of slim build with a thin face, dark eyebrows, narrow eyes and a long narrow nose.

He is thought to have a short ponytail and was wearing a black leather jacket and dark denim trousers.

Leading loyalist, Gerry Drumgoole - wounded in an INLA murder bid in the Shankill area yesterday afternoon - was today said to be "stable" in hospital.

Mr Drumgoole, who is in his early 30s, was shot once in the stomach by two INLA gunmen as he sat outside his home in Hazelfield Street.

Action

The gunmen continued to fire at the house after he managed to scramble inside and slam the front door shut.

The shooting is seen as retaliatory action following the murders of three Roman Catholic civilians by the UFF and UVF last week.

Mr Drumgoole lost a leg and part of an arm in an under-car IRA booby-trap blast at Dover Street in November 1991.
