The clubhouse of Downpatrick Cricket Club, which is to celebrate its 150th anniversary next year, has been extensively damaged in what local politicians described as a carefully planned sectarian attack. A row of businesses in the town was also badly damaged in another suspected arson attack.
The attack on the club, which has a mixed-religion membership, was discovered shortly before 2 a.m. yesterday. Initially fire crews were prevented from tackling the blaze because of a suspected explosive device left at the entrance to the club. A British army bomb disposal team which dealt with the device declared it an elaborate hoax.
About the same time fire crews were also called to deal with a blaze at a row of shops at St Patrick's Avenue in Downpatrick.
Meanwhile, a 32-year-old Belfast man was being treated in hospital last night after he was shot in a suspected so-called punishment shooting. The man was shot in both knees and an ankle at about 11 p.m. on Sunday. In Antrim a 21-year-old man was badly beaten by men wielding sledgehammers at his house in Cossack Court in the town about 12.30 a.m. yesterday.
