Two children have been treated in hospital after a shotgun was fired at Travellers' caravans near Newry, Co Down. The incident happened at Carnbane industrial estate shortly after 1.30 a.m. yesterday morning.
A boy aged seven and a girl aged six were inside one of three caravans attacked.
Both children were taken to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry where the girl was treated for shotgun pellet injuries to her leg. She was later released. The boy, who suffered pellet injuries to his face, was detained. Ms Rose McDonald, mother of the injured children, told how they had been asleep in their caravan when they were woken by shooting.
Sobbing, she said her son screamed after being hit. "I jumped out of bed and went to him, I thought he was dead," she said.
Mr Pat McElroy, a Newry SDLP councillor, said: "To think that the likes of two young children were put at risk or could have been killed actually by a madman or a madwoman.
"Anyone with an ounce of Christianity on this Sunday morning would condemn such an attack," he said.
The RUC have yet to establish a motive, but Mr Danny Kennedy, a UUP Newry and Mourne Assembly member, said it appeared from inquiries he had made that the shootings were connected to a dispute among Travellers. Mr Kennedy said the indiscriminate nature of the attack was disgraceful.
The Travellers have since left the site.