A group of up to six men are being sought in connection with an assault in which a man's ear was cut off in Co Mayo this morning.
The victim, a Traveller man in his twenties, was assaulted in a caravan by the group - some of whom were armed with knives - at 11am.
The man was taken to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar before being transferred to the University College Hospital in Galway.
A search for the man's ear was unsuccessful.