INLA factions leader shot dead and colleague seriously injured

THE leader of one of the rival INLA factions, Hugh Torney, was killed last night in a gun attack in Lurgan, Co Armagh, RUC security forces confirmed earlier today.

He was gunned down on Victoria Road at 9.30 p.m. A colleague who was with him was seriously injured in the attack. So far no one has admitted the killing, but it is believed that the opposing INLA grouping was responsible.

The murder of Torney, who was wanted in the South on arms charges, effectively ends the vicious nine-month-old feud between the two groupings.

The internal power struggle, which began early in the year with the murder of Gino Gallagher, head of the mainstream INLA faction, claimed the lives of six people including that of nine-year-old Barbara McAloram.

Gallagher was murdered on Torney's instructions. But Torney was unprepared for and unable to withstand the backlash from the grouping loyal to Gallagher. Of the six killings, five were carried out by the group opposed to Torney. Several others were wounded, some seriously, in other gun attacks related to the feud.

This mainstream faction has taken a militant stance and was opposed to the IRA ceasefire. Now that the feud has effectively ended, there are concerns that this INLA group may break the de facto ceasefire it has been generally observing.

Torney was walking along Victoria Street with a colleague last night when a car drew up alongside them. According to eye-witnesses, the occupants of the car opened fire and the pair were hit with two bursts of automatic gunfire.

Torney is understood to have died at the scene. One eye-witness said he appeared to have been hit several times in the back. A local nurse failed to resuscitate the former INLA leader.

Local people treated the wounded man, who was bleeding about the face and neck. They propped him up against a window sill while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. Early today he was reported to be in a serious condition in Craigavon Area Hospital.

There was speculation last night that Torney or his colleague may have returned fire. Two handguns were recovered from the pavement where the men were shot.

A bullet also pierced a window of a house on Lough Road in the direction from where the men were attacked.

A burnt-out Nissan Bluebird, believed to have been the killers' getaway vehicle, was later found on the Acre Road, near Magheralin, about four miles from Lurgan.

There were several people on the street, including young children, at the time of the shooting and RUC Chief Inspector, Henry McMillen, appealed for public assistance in tracing the killers. "This was a dastardly deed, committed on a peaceful street and I would ask anyone who was present to come forward with any information, no matter how slight it is," he said.