Loyalist murder bid in Castlewellan
by Dan O'Neill
Sinn Féin Down District Councillor, Frank McDowell, has urged
nationalists to exercise extreme caution and vigilance following the
attempted murder of a nationalist in Castlewellan by Loyalists.
Francie Trainor was injured on Tuesday 22 March after he triggered a
booby-trap bomb planted by the Orange Volunteers at his scrap yard.
The businessman, in his fifties, was driving into the yard shortly
after 12pm when he saw a piece of of metal lying on the ground near
the entrance. Afraid that it might puncture his tyre, it is
understood he kicked it out of his way - triggering a hand grenade
which rolled out and exploded.
Mr Trainor received cuts and bruises, and was taken to Down hospital
for treatment.
The Castlewellan attack is not an isolated incident but the latest in
long line of loyalist attacks in South Down on nationalists. In
January this year, Loughinisland man, Patsy Shields was injured when
a pipe bomb was thrown at his home.
Councillor McDowell condemned this latest attack and accused the RUC
of allowing loyalists a free-hand in the area.
``I share the view of Patsy Shields who was recently the target of a
similar attack that `the dogs in the street know' who is responsible,
yet nothing is done.
``Those responsible are given a free-hand in South Down by the RUC
because that institutionally sectarian paramilitary force is not a
police service.''
The murder bid has also been condemned as purely sectarian by the
local Sinn Féin Assembly member Mick Murphy.
``The fact that these so-called dissident groups continue to use their
trademark crude pipe bombs adds further weight to the claims that
last week's sophisticated bomb attack which killed Rosemary Nelson
could not have been carried out by these amateur groups alone.
``The actions of the so-called Orange Volunteers display a level of
experience which suggests that this group is made up of individuals
from other loyalist groups'', he concluded.
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