A Catholic man has been shot dead in front of his wife and 13-year-old daughter in Belfast city centre.
The shooting happened in a residential area near Royal Avenue just before 4 p.m. yesterday. The dead man, who has locally been named as Mr Paul Daly, was in his 30s and from the Knockbracken area in south Belfast.
The father of four was sitting in the car when two men approached and opened fire. The victim's wife and daughter, who were also in the car at the time, escaped uninjured.
Meanwhile, an 11-week-old baby girl was taken to hospital after a blast-bomb attack on an RUC station in west Belfast last night. The device exploded at 8.40 p.m. behind Andersonstown RUC station. The infant was in a car at the rear of the station. She was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital where she was examined and allowed to go home. Dissident republicans are believed to have been responsible.
Mr Daly had just picked up his daughter from school before going to his sister-in-law's house where the shooting occurred. The victim is believed to have been involved in drug dealing, but the RUC said it was too early to speculate on a motive. It did not rule out that the attack could have been sectarian.
A senior RUC officer, Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan, said police were interviewing the man's wife and daughter, who were "in a terrible state of shock".
"This man was a Catholic but we are keeping an open mind as to a motive. The attack occurred as the victim and his family were leaving a relative's house which they regularly visited on a Friday afternoon," he said.
The car believed to have been used by the assailants was found a short time later in the mainly loyalist Shankill Road area. The occupants had attempted to set it on fire but had not succeeded. Police forensic scientists and British army technical officers were called in to examine the car.