The victim of the first paramilitary-style shooting in a republican area for more than four months was yesterday recovering in hospital after he was shot in both legs in north Belfast.
The last such attack attributed to the IRA occurred in Strabane, Co Tyrone, in October. This attack is also the first since Sinn Fein's denunciation of so-called "punishment attacks" during the closing stages of the Mitchell review last November when the party said it was "totally opposed" to the attacks. The 30-year-old man was found lying in the car-park of a bar on Jamaica Road in the Ardoyne. He was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he is receiving treatment after undergoing surgery.
Mr Mick Conlon, a local Sinn Fein councillor, said the attack was a product of the suspension of the Northern Executive and described it as unfortunate. "When there is a political vacuum you get incidents arising that are things we hoped to leave in the past. The community, especially those that suffer high levels of economic deprivation, will demand justice," Mr Conlon added.
Mr Alban Maginness, the SDLP MLA for North Belfast, condemned the attack and said the IRA was showing indifference to the political process and to the will of local people.
"The people who carried out this shooting are the people who call themselves the defenders of the Catholic community. In what way are they defending the Catholic community by carrying out `kangaroo courts' and acting as judge and jury for the people?" he asked.
Mr Vincent McKenna, of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Bureau, has called for an end to the early release of paramilitary prisoners.
The Alliance Party chief whip, Mr David Ford, said the attack had worrying implications for the peace process.
Last night fears were growing for the safety of a Co Armagh man, still missing after he was abducted on Wednesday night. Mr Mark Kelly was bundled into a van by five masked men just before midnight outside a house in Greenpark Manor, near Armagh city centre.