A 22-year-old Belfast man on a life-support machine in Tallaght Hospital last night is understood to have been the victim of a vicious assault arising from a feud between members of the splinter republican terrorist group, the Irish National Liberation Army (INLA).
Gardai are concerned that the attack on the young man might be the most serious incident yet in what appears to be a feud involving the INLA and drug-related criminals in west Dublin.
The man, who is understood to have republican associations, received massive head injuries and puncture wounds to his legs and body after being attacked by clubs studded with nails, and possibly a machete.
He was one of two or three men who appeared to have been stripped of their clothes before being attacked at the Ballymount Industrial Estate on Wednesday night.
He suffered what appear to be crippling injuries to his legs, severing tendons and a main artery. He was then bludgeoned about the head.
Gardai were called to the scene at around 9.45 p.m. on Wednesday and were told by a witness that he had seen two or three men stripped to their underclothes near a van, which drove off.
Later in the evening another Tallaght man, who is also understood to have republican associations, was also admitted to Tallaght Hospital with injuries consistent with having been beaten by clubs. He, too, was dressed only in underpants.
Gardai believe a third man was also assaulted but may not have gone to hospital.
Early yesterday morning gardai arrested a man in his early 40s in the Blanchardstown area. This man is reputed to be the head of the INLA in Dublin.
He was being questioned about a number of incidents in which people were attacked and property damaged since the weekend.