Police in Belfast have launched a murder investigation today following the death in hospital of a man brutally attacked at the weekend.
Mr Thomas Johnston (24) was left with critical head injuries after being set upon as he walked along North Boundary Street in the early hours of Sunday.
Mr Johnston lived a short distance from the scene of the attack at Boundary Way in the loyalist Shankill Road area of west Belfast.
He was walking along the street when an old BMW car pulled up beside him and a passenger got out and started hitting him around the head with a weapon. A woman walking with Mr Johnston was also hit across the face by the attacker.
Inspector Nigel Goddard said the attack was "brutal", adding: "This gentleman was the victim of a sustained, vicious and what appears to be unprovoked attack."
Police said they had not yet established a motive for the attack and issued a new appeal for witnesses to come forward.
The detective leading the murder hunt claimed the killing was not linked to tensions within loyalist paramilitaries.Superintendent Paul Hamlin said: "We have got absolutely no information as to any clear cut motives.
"We are not ruling anything in or out as to why this person was assaulted."
PA